Professor from Italy spoke about stereotypes and marketing of Siberia

The expert spoke at the panel discussion of the international economic symposium Positioning Tomsk as a University City, and also gave lectures on territory marketing for International Management master’s program students.

- We met with students four times for 4 hours and talked about the role of territory marketing in the development of countries and cities. What are the features of the territory, and how can university employees, internal and external stakeholders, and active citizens be connected to create a system that will help develop the territory, - said Roberto Bruni.

He noted that this program is very interesting for him, because the class is international: students from India, Africa, and Russia study here and they are really interested in how to apply this topic in Tomsk.

- I have some experience in teaching in Russia, and I will share one observation – when there are only Russian students in the audience, they are often shy to express themselves. The dynamics get bigger when the class is international. This learning situation is much more productive, as one student engages and triggers the interest and activity of another, - says the professor.

At the panel discussion of the IEM international economic symposium, Professor Bruni also spoke about the role of the university in the development of the region, emphasizing how important it is to involve the university in this process. After all, it is the university that has the knowledge and tools that can help in attracting various stakeholders (companies, internal and external investors, and Tomsk citizens), to unite everyone in achieving a common goal.

- It is important to work with stereotypes and subjective interpretation and change them. Many Europeans still think that Siberia is only snow, cold, prison, and bears. At the same time, there are rich traditions, culture, and knowledge, and your university occupies high positions in world rankings.

However, as the expert noted, simple advertising is not the main factor in achieving this goal. People today do not trust it. We need to do more in public relations, organize international congresses, invite international experts, and explain what interesting things they can find here, as well as investors, students, and visitors to the city.

Summary of the speech: the correct positioning of the territory is human-made. The key is to model the process of the emergence of new knowledge, to create and emphasize the uniqueness of the city, and then its perception will be objective.