There is speculation that President Medvedev is seeking a second term as president. He will appear before hundreds of reporters and numerous TV crews.
The move has furthered speculation that Mr Medvedev plans to run in the 2012 presidential elections, the BBC's Moscow correspondent says.
Mr Medvedev has taken part in press briefings before, but has never held a full-scale question-and-answer session with the press in the manner of Mr Putin, who is currently Russia's prime minister.
More than 800 journalists are reported to have been accredited for Wednesday's news conference.
A keen advocate of technology, Mr Medvedev confirmed he would appear at the news conference by posting on social network Twitter.
The more liberal-minded Dmitry Medvedev has spent most of his years in office in the shadow of Mr Putin, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford.
Many had expected him to return his title to the former President Putin at elections next year.
But it is now unclear whether the president and prime minister will run head-to-head in the 2012 elections.
Suggestions of a power struggle have been fuelled by recent public disputes between the two men - most notably over Libya, our correspondent says.
"Medvedev will try to show he is not simply a 'yes man' but that he is almost an equal to Putin," one unnamed trader working at a Western investment bank in Moscow told the Reuters news agency.
The Skolkovo School of Management, where the conference will be held, is described as a key institute in Mr Medvedev's plans to modernise Russia.
Russian presidential terms are now six years, and remaining in power for two consecutive terms is allowed.
0 comments