The key objective of the conference was to understand the service economy and creative industries at the intersection of various scientific disciplines. The participants paid special attention to the issues of the platform economy, digitalization of the service sector, the use of artificial intelligence and the development of creative tourism.

The event was held in a mixed format and brought together researchers and practitioners from more than 20 educational and scientific organizations in Russia, as well as countries near and far abroad – Armenia, Syria, Lebanon and India.

The conference opened on May 22 with welcoming remarks by Sergey Goryainov, Director of the SFedU Institute of Tourism, Service and Creative Industries. The plenary session was moderated by Alexey Shcherbina, Head of the Department of Organization and Technology of Service Activities at SFedU, who opened the session with a report on the platform economy as a service sector infrastructure, models of service ecosystems and digital interfaces for access to services. In his speech, Mikhail Grechko, Associate Professor at SFedU, addressed the significant discrepancy between the concepts of "creativity" and "creativity". The international agenda of the conference was set by foreign participants. Associate Professor of the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University (Republic of Armenia) Stepan Mantarlian presented a report on the transformation of approaches to quality in the service economy, combining the concept of "Gold Standards" and the philosophy of the "factory of feelings". Zaruhi Hayrian, Head of the Department of Ecology, Tourism and Service at the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia, spoke about the UNESCO monuments of Armenia as a tool for forming a territorial brand. Sarah Dagman, Head of the Department of Tourism Management at the University of Tartus (Syria), dedicated her speech to the role of artificial intelligence in the development of tourism marketing. A practical aspect of international cooperation was the report by Yulia Zykryanova, Director of the Reboot Agency, on professional internships and work contracts abroad for Russian students and graduates of the UGSN "Service and Tourism".

The plenary session identified a list of pressing issues, which were discussed during the breakout sessions. So, on May 22, two sections were held – "Modern trends in the development of service, tourism and hospitality" and "Digitalization, creativity and innovation: new horizons of the service economy". The presentations of the participants covered a wide range of topics: from ecotourism, creative tourism and the development of creative industries in the regions to gastronomy, the event economy and the digital transformation of the hotel and restaurant business.

On May 23, novice researchers – students and undergraduates – presented their reports in six sections. The topics of the presentations differed in depth and variety and touched upon practical aspects: from customer service, loyalty programs and emotional intelligence in the service sector to the use of generative artificial intelligence, chatbots and augmented reality technologies, as well as maritime logistics. The authors of the best reports were awarded diplomas of I, II and III degrees.

A collection of abstracts will be published based on the results of the conference.