Communication technologies in business and politics in recent years have made impressive technological breakthrough, based mainly on the use of modern information and social technologies.

Extensive Internet expansion, complex software systems for specialized types of communications, full access to communication systems with wearable devices: smartphones, tablets and other gadgets, development of personalized communication and feedback systems, distributed intelligence (think tanks, crowdsourcing) and resource allocation (crowdfunding, crowdstaffing) – all this has completely changed the communication process of social and business structures with expert communities and mass audience.

Today’s standards of communication processes involve much higher requirements to the quality and completeness of information, timeliness of its provision and respond to important information events, to intensiveness of interactive communication, including – through the “standard” social networks – to information openness of decision-makers.

Communication capabilities of public authorities and the practice of their actual use, as a rule, fall far behind the level of modern requirements. This technological lag bears considerable information and reputational risks. Therefore, modernization of communication systems of public authorities is today the most urgent priority.

The main directions to modernize communication systems of public authorities:

• Development of information and communication strategies to promote constituent entities of the Federation and federal sectoral structures using the technologies: group forms of joint cooperation (strategic sessions, business games), expert support, team building etc.
• Development and launch of individual communication modules and systems of “electronic democracy” (such as “open government”). In particular:
• Formation of regional/sector/country “think tanks”, which concentrate expertise of highly qualified specialists and create a system to provide interaction of government bodies with them
• Crowdsourcing projects to provide a productive dialogue of public authorities with citizens on a wide range of issues
• Technological modernization of “traditional” information systems:
• Intelligent automated processing systems of citizens ‘appeals to the bodies of state administration, including monitoring modules of responding to citizens’ complaints, citizen satisfaction responses received; modules of active interaction with citizens who address proposals to improve the performance of government agencies.
• Modernization of press-service: radical improvement of quality and timeliness of information, switch to interactive mode, regular information processes in social media
• Work with regional elites:
• Studies of regional elites: their structures, resources and level of influence;
• Development and launch of systems to interact with regional elites in order to coordinate efforts and concentrate resources on solving problems of regional development.
• Youth projects:
• Organization of summer youth camps, forums, conferences for socially active young people – “leaders of the future”
• Preparation and implementation of comprehensive training programs for future talent pool of the region: a big group of young educated people who understand modern economic processes, governance technologies and are team-oriented in solving problems of state and society.