On December 20, 2024, the Moscow City Duma hosted a ceremony to present honorary awards from the capital’s parliament to Muscovites and organizations that made a significant contribution to the development of the city. The awards were presented by Moscow City Duma Chairman Alexey Shaposhnikov and Moscow City Duma Deputy Chairman Stepan Orlov. Among those awarded was Yuri Hohlov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of the Information Society.
Yuri Evgenievich Hohlov was born in the village of Berestovoye in the Donetsk region in 1954. He graduated from school in the village of Borovskoye in the Luhansk region. He graduated from the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Kazan State University in 1976. The beginning of his career is associated with Kazan State University, Donetsk State University, the Mittag-Leffler Institute of the Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Institute of Technology, the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 1982 to 1988, Yu. E. Khokhlov led a team of creators of a software package that simulated the development of large gas fields in Western Siberia. In the early 1990s, he became one of the founders of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Under his leadership, the RFBR information system was created, which was also used by the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation.
In 1994-95, Yu. E. Hohlov took an active part in the formation and implementation of the interdepartmental program “Scientific Network of Computer Telecommunications for Science and Higher Education” (Ministry of Science, Ministry of Education, Russian Academy of Sciences, RFBR). In 1996-97, under his leadership, a program for the implementation of information technologies in the Russian State Library was developed, where he worked as deputy director. In 1999-2000, he was one of the ideologists and developers of the interdepartmental program for electronic libraries for 10 ministries and departments of Russia.
In 1996, Yuri Hohlov began to actively engage in the problems of developing the information society. Together with a number of leading experts in the field of telecommunications, computer science, information policy, librarianship, high-performance computing and education, he created the Institute of the Information Society (IIS) in 1998 — the first independent research and service organization in the country professionally engaged in ICT4D problems. He is the permanent Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute.
From 2009 to 2020, he was the Head, and is currently the Academic Director of the Department of Information Society Development at MESI, now the IIS Basic Department of Digital Economy at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
In 2012-2014, he worked at AFK Sistema as an investment director, and in 2013-2014, he was also the President of VAO Intourist. At the same time, he remained the Chairman of the Board of Directors of IIS.
It is necessary to note the great personal contribution of Yu. E. Hohlov to the development of the information society in Moscow.
From April 1998 to December 2001, he was the chairman of the public expert council of the Moscow City Duma in the direction of “Information, informatization, communications, telecommunications and television”, from April 2002 he headed the public expert council of the Moscow City Duma for the development of the information society.
On the initiative and with the participation of Yu. E. Hohlov, in 2000-2001 the Concept of Moscow’s movement towards an information society was developed (approved by the Mayor of Moscow in July 2001). On the initiative and with the active participation of Yu. E. Hohlov, the Law of the City of Moscow No. 52 “On Information Resources and Informatization of the City of Moscow” was developed and adopted by the Moscow City Duma on October 24, 2001.
In 2000, a methodological basis for the integration of Moscow’s information systems was developed under the leadership of Yu. E. Hohlov. In 2001, proposals were developed for the legal regulation of the activities of the Moscow Electronic Trading System “Mosgortorg” for the purchase (sale) of goods and services for state needs. In 2001-2002, a draft city target program “Comprehensive Program for Moscow’s Movement Toward an Information Society” (“Electronic Moscow”) was developed under the leadership of Yu. E. Hohlov.
Also, the outstanding knowledge and experience of Yu. E. Hohlov served the development of the information society at the national level.
In 1999-2000, he took part in the preparation of the concept of the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in Russia, and in 2007 – the Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation. In 2000-2010, Yu. E. Hohlov actively participated in the implementation of the Russian Development Gateway project, and was the project’s technology coordinator. From 2001 to 2012, he served as the Chairman of the Expert Council and was a member of the Supervisory Board of the Partnership for the Development of the Information Society in Russia. In 2002-2010, he was the Chairman of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation for regional competitions of the Federal Targeted Program “Electronic Russia”, and also Deputy Chairman of the Competition Commission of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia’s competition “The Best Region in the Sphere of ICT”. In 2009-2012 was deputy head of the expert advisory group of the Presidential Council for the Development of the Information Society.
In 2014-2018, he was a member of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation. In 2017, he took an active part in the development of the Digital Economy program for the Russian Federation. From 2018 to the present, he is a member of the Digital Transformation Council and a member of the Digital Public Administration and Artificial Intelligence working groups of the Digital Economy ANO. He took part in the development and updating of the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for the period up to 2030 and the federal project Artificial Intelligence as part of the national program Digital Economy of the Russian Federation. Since 2019, he was a member of the working group of the State Council of the Russian Federation “Communications, Communications, Digital Economy”, and after its transformation, since 2023, he has been a member of the State Council of the Russian Federation Commission in the direction of “Communications, Communications, Digital Economy”.
From 2022 to the present, he is the Chairman of the Expert Council of the event “Ensuring citizens to receive additional professional education in the field of artificial intelligence and in related fields using the mechanism of personal digital certificates”, and since 2024, a member of the Expert Council for a unified program of exploratory research in the field of artificial intelligence.
Yu. E. Hohlov enjoys great authority among his foreign colleagues and participated at a high level in international activities to develop the information society. In 1997, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of the World Bank infoDev Program project “Development of a National Dialogue on Telecommunications Policy in Russia”. In 1999-2001, Yu. E. Hohlov was the Chairman of the Information Technology Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Information Institutions (IFLA). He was also a member of the International Jury of the Bangemann Global Challenge (1999) and the Stockholm Challenge (2000-2005), a member of the Supervisory Board of the European project “DELOS — Network of Electronic Libraries”, and a member of the Presidium of the Virtual University of Europe and Central Asia. In addition, in 2002-2005 Yu. E. Hohlov was the coordinator of the Regional Network for Europe and Central Asia of the UN ICT Task Force.
In the period 2008-2012, Yu. E. Hohlov was a member of the expert council “Future of Government” of the World Economic Forum, and in 2010-2017 – the coordinator of the UN Economic and Social Council in the C7 “Electronic Government” direction of the action plan for the implementation of the decisions of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Yu. E. Hohlov was also an independent director and a member of the board of directors of the Infocommunication holding “Zerde” (Kazakhstan) and Intracom Telecom (Greece).
In 2000, Yu. E. Hohlov became a corresponding member of the Russian Engineering Academy, and in 2004 he was elected an academician in the section “Information systems, computing and electronic engineering, communications and telecommunications”.
Yu. E. Hohlov is the author of several monographs and textbooks, as well as more than 200 articles in scientific journals and the media.
The entire IIS team wholeheartedly congratulates its leader on the well-deserved award and wishes him health, personal happiness and professional longevity for the benefit of Moscow and all of Russia!