On may 21, the 8th International Scientific and Practical Conference "Horizons of Russia" was held in the format of teleconference between the Department of Business Statistics and Economics of KNRTU and the Department of Political Economy and History of Economic Science of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Moscow). This year the conference was held for the first time on the zoom.us platform.

Traditionally the videoconference was opened by Sergey Valentey, Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Head of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. He welcomed the participants and expressed his admiration for the fact that during the pandemic, interest in science among students and faculty is not lost, but on the contrary only intensified.

In the qualifying round, which was held in KNRTU on March 18 and in Plekhanov University on April 23, more than two hundred participants made sectional presentations and only the best of the best entered the final stage of the conference.

On behalf of the KNRTU administration, the participants were greeted by Galina Ezhkova, Head of the Academic Department. She reminded the participants how it all began: eight years ago on the basis of KNRTU, Professor of Plekhanov University - Larisa Cherednichenko read an advanced course of lectures on macro- and microeconomics for teachers of the Department of Economics as part of competence development. Then, on the initiative of Vilora Avilova, Head of the Department of Economics of KNRTU, the idea of scientific cooperation between two departments accured. The Department has actually become a pioneer in conducting conferences in a remote format at KNRTU. The first interuniversity conference "Russia and the WTO: losses and gains" was held on April 10, 2013. In the beginning, it was very difficult due to the lack of high-quality technical means of communication, but every year more and more experience was gained, and in 2015 the conference received an International status. It should be noted that the geography of participants is constantly expanding. This year, the Cracow University of Economics and the Armenian state University of Economics participated for the first time.

A regular participant of our conference is Artur Nikolaev, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan, who is very close to the interests of modern youth. He told the participants that it is very important in difficult economic conditions to maintain interaction between business and the scientific community. To overcome the crisis, we must become one friendly and united team that is not afraid of difficulties and is ready to develop and move forward in the new economic conditions.

The conference speakers from Moscow and Kazan were represented by Svetlana Mudrova, Head of the Department of Political Economy and History of Economic Science of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, and Anna Aksenova, Head of the Department of Business Statistics and Economics of KNRTU.

The conference was opened by the youngest participants, Lyceum students and schoolchildren, representing the section "Step Into Science". Roman Neuman and Denis Andrianov reviewed the history of the securities market development in the Russian Federation, Nika Naydenova and Ivan Sofonov shared with the information about the features of higher education in foreign countries. And Konstantin Dolgopolov presented his unique development - an application for virtual excursions.

No one was left indifferent by the analytical reports of 4th-year students, future economists and mathematicians, Kristina Zakharova - on trends in consumer lending, Adilia Khuzeeva - on the problems of self-employment of citizens in the Russian labor market and Aliya Khairullina - on forecasting the financial crisis based on a fractal approach.

The students' research touched on such serious macroeconomic issues as the impact of the pandemic on the Russian Economy, the development of the transport structure of the EAEU countries (report by Albina Kashapova, student of the Department of Industrial Policy and Business Administration - DIPBA), and trends in the impact of digital technologies on the modern economic system of capitalism (report by Artur Kolmogorov, graduate student of the Department of Management and Automation). Topics related to microeconomics aroused the same high interest. Thus, Alexander Solovyov, student of the Department of Energy-saturated Materials and Products (DESMP), devoted his report to the issue of digitalization of the Russian industry and Veronika Razvalyaeva, a graduate student of the same Department, spoke about the problems of production and application of composite materials. There were also noted works on the topics of environmental problems, which were highlighted by Timur Garayev and Regina Saveleva, students of Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Chime Nelson Chidubem, student of the Department of Petroleum and Petrochemistry, as well as topical problems of domestic pharmaceuticals (report by Yulia Gamirova, student of DESMP).

Our colleagues from Moscow were pleasantly surprised by the unique experience of the Republic of Tatarstan on the revival of historical and cultural heritage, which was shared with the participants by Karina Bogdanova, postgraduate student of DIPBA, and the achievements of the Republic of Tatarstan in the development of innovative infrastructure, which were told by Gulnara Badrtdinova and Diana Zamilova, students of Higher School of Economics of KNRTU.

Summing up the results of the conference, we can be glad for our young generation, which is optimistic about the future and offers more innovative solutions to solve problems. The ability of our students to analyze the situation and show their active position cannot but please teachers, and proves that we work in vain.