Creative industries drive economic development in BRICS+, says Sberbank SVP

At the Created in BRICS+ session, held as part of the RICS International Forum on October 9 in St Petersburg, speakers discussed how creative industries, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain technology can drive the new economies of BRICS+ countries. Participants discussed the potential of collaborative projects, development of educational programmes, digital infrastructure, and intellectual property protection, all of which are essential for turning ideas into real products and services.

The creative industries today are growing on average 15 per cent faster than other sectors of the economy. Their contribution to global GDP already exceeds 4 per cent, and the market volume is estimated at more than $1.6 trillion. In Russia, the share of creative industries is about 2 per cent of GDP, and by 2030 it should grow to 6 per cent: this is the goal set by the President of Russia. This sector is becoming a new growth point for non-primary exports, as well as an instrument of international cooperation for the BRICS+ countries.

"The creative industries, such as design, art, media, content, games, and others, are becoming the driving force behind the development of the modern economy,” said Vladislav Kreinin, Senior Vice President, Director of the Marketing and Communications Department at Sberbank.

“Russian talents and our technologies can become very much in demand in the development of the BRICS+ creative industries. Our cultural heritage, strong education and technological base allow us not only to develop our own solutions, but also to unite the countries of the alliance around joint growth models.

“Based on Sber’s ecosystem, an infrastructure can be formed for the interaction of creative industries: from generative AI and blockchain for the co-creation of creators to intellectual property protection services and content promotion."

Solutions for creative industries

As confirmation, three Sber’s flagship neural networks GigaChat, Kandinsky and SymFormer represent a range of solutions for creative industries. Using GigaChat, you can create presentations by analysing queries and structuring content. Kandinsky helps to generate images, animations, and short videos based on users' text queries. SymFormer specialises in music: it processes text descriptions and converts them into music tracks, refines scores and creates soundtracks.

In the context of product research and development and blockchain technologies, the Sber Blockchain Laboratory is engaged in R&D of new products and solutions in the field of blockchain. The solutions are based on its own blockchain platform.

The synergy of technologies in collaboration with humans allows us to invent creative products that become a real technological breakthrough for the global community. A striking example is the world's first AI–completed opera, Mandragora, presented on the New Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre in June 2025. The opera, based on the idea of Peter Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachinsky, was recreated and completed with the participation of the modern Russian composer Peter Dranga and Sber’s neural networks. GigaChat wrote the libretto, SymFormer finalised the music, and Kandinsky created the visual. Production entered the repertoire of the theatre, marking a new stage in the development of the synthesis of art and technology.