The second high level innovation forum between the EU and Russia will be held on in Lappeenranta, organised by the City of Lappeenranta in cooperation with the Lappeenranta University of Technology, (LUT).The first EU-Russia Innovation Forum, held in Lappeenranta in May 2010, brought together around 600 participants. The Prime Minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen and the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Forum last year. They received nine key initiatives related to the innovation and modernisation cooperation between the EU and Russia on the closing day of the forum, 27 May 2010. Ten concrete project proposals created on the basis of the initiatives will be taken forward at the 2nd Innovation Forum. In addition to high level political leaders of Russia, Finland and the rest of the EU, more than 500 participants are expected to attend the Forum this year.The Key Themes include EU-Russia Partnerships for Modernisation, Innovativeness in Management, Energy Efficiency, Information and Communication Technologies and HealthThe first objective of the Innovation Forum is the utilisation of the EU-Russia modernisation partnerships for companies and the concretisation of recommendations for cooperation in the form of projects that promote cooperation between the EU and Russia. The Forum’s second objective is to present the best practices in innovative management through European and Russian case studies. The third and final objective of the forum with regard to content is to focus on the development and cooperation opportunities in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, ICT and health.A large Business Matchmaking event will be organised in connection with the forum in cooperation with the European Enterprise Network (EEN). In addition, a wide-ranging Innovation Exhibition will be organised in connection with the Forum. Among others, the Innovation Forum will include the following speakers: Vladimir Chizhov, Head of the Russian Mission to the EU; Frank Schauff – CEO of the Association of European Businesses in Russia; Zoran Stančič, Deputy Director General of the European Commission’s DG INFSO; and, Anatoly Alexandrov, Rector of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. The CEO of Rusnano, Anatoly Chubais, who also attended the first Forum, will speak at the 2011 forum, in addition to several further speakers.The Innovation Forum is organised through the cooperation between significant EU-Russia actors such as the European Business & Innovation Centre Network (EBN) and the EU-Russia Industrialists’ Round Table (IRT) business platform together with the Russian Technology Transfer Network (RTTN), the Russian Union of Innovation Technology Centres (RUITC) and the Gate2Rubin project of Siora (the Russian Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises Support).