A lot of words about innovative business
Innovation is a condition for a better quality of life
About the current state of innovative business in Russia and the ways of its development. FinTimes.ru Igor Zadvornov, head of the Permanent Representative Office of the Governor's Administration and the Government of the Novosibirsk Region in Moscow, told.
Elizaveta Suvorova talked
Igor Anatolyevich, now they often talk about innovations. What are innovations and how do they differ, for example, from innovations or inventions?Innovation can now be safely called the main engine of modern development, a condition for economic growth, human potential, and ultimately a condition for a better quality of life.
And if we take into account that all these factors continue to occur within the framework of fierce competition on world markets, then innovations in the full sense can be called not any innovations and inventions, but only those that have brought a certain result for people, society, the state, that is, those that fit into the system of economic relations, have become a factor in the development of the economy, which have become a product that has its own consumer and, in turn, generates demand. Simply put, an innovation or invention successfully sold and useful for the economy is an innovation.
How can innovative business in Russia be characterized?It is impossible to imagine the development of society without innovation.
Otherwise, society will stagnate, lag behind competitors, which will affect all spheres of life. Therefore, innovations have always been in demand in Russia as a necessary condition for economic development. In the USSR, innovations were a direct order of centralized authoritarian state power, as a condition for the survival of the regime and the state in confrontation with the West. Hence the successes in the development of fundamental and applied science, the conquest of space, the creation of effective military equipment and equipment, the nuclear industry, etc. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state order for innovations also disappeared – a business appeared that did not need innovations at the initial stage, since it needed to "digest" the gigantic legacy of the Soviet economy, the potential of which was enormous. But everything comes to an end someday, and we did not succeed in successfully competing in the world on the Soviet heritage alone. And when the understanding came that it was necessary to change the structure of the economy, to move away from dependence on raw materials, to build a modern state, then a new strategy and new priorities were formulated: modernization and innovation as the main and essential factor of modernization. The state order for innovation has reappeared, which in a market economy is a direct signal for business. Hence, it is possible to characterize the modern innovative business in Russia as emerging and having a huge growth potential.
What are the prospects for the development of innovative business in Russia?The main signal for the development of innovative business has already been made – the President and the Government have formulated the tasks of innovation development as priorities of the state.
And now the most important thing is the definition of the "rules of the game", the creation of legal, institutional and technical conditions for the development and conduct of innovative business. Business should benefit from innovation. If we maintain this line consistently, then Russia has a great chance to become one of the countries with a modern advanced economy with a high level of science and technology, and innovations in various sectors of the economy will become the main driving factor for entrepreneurial activity and business.
What do you think will help innovative business to reach new frontiers? In which direction should we move?Consistency and perseverance at all levels of government in promoting innovative business.
We need clear and consistent laws that encourage the development of innovation, we need economic incentives, both at the federal, regional and local levels. Ideally, the state should create an atmosphere of general public enthusiasm for innovation, it should become a kind of national idea, similar to how industrialization became a national idea in the USSR in the 30s. Modernization and innovation, in my opinion, should become our national idea.
What are the problems? And what solutions do you see?There are still many problems.
We are just at the beginning of the journey. Legislation stimulating innovation is just being formed. We do not yet have effective mechanisms for introducing new technologies and inventions into production. We have not fully regulated the issues of intellectual property protection, patent legislation, etc. We still have expensive and rather "short" loans and not everything is in order with investments in new technologies. The problem of "brain drain" has not been completely solved. Higher education institutions are slowly rebuilding their programs in the direction of stimulating innovation, so all this needs to be changed.
Igor Anatolyevich, there is a lot of talk today about the need to force business to innovate. Are there real and affordable ways to do this without violating the principles of a market economy?There is no need to force anyone in any way.
You can get the opposite result. If we conduct a smart policy and create the necessary economic and legal prerequisites, it will be profitable for business to invest in innovation. Here is a simple example. Energy saving and energy efficiency. The state has declared them as priorities. In November 2009 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed Federal Law No. 261 "On Energy Conservation and on Improving Energy Efficiency and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation", which establishes the obligation of economic entities to engage in energy conservation. But this is not an administrative, but an economic compulsion understandable for business, which ultimately increases the efficiency of the economy and contributes to the emergence of a market for energy-saving technologies, which is directly closed to new technologies and innovations and is a market customer. And this law has started to work – local energy efficiency improvement programs are being adopted in the regions. The first results of the law's work will be evaluated at the Yaroslavl Energy Forum in October this year, where more than 65 Russian regions will present their programs. The market of energy-saving technologies has recently been growing at a much faster pace than the economy as a whole, and its growth potential (in the coming years it is expected to grow at times) is breathtaking. Business knows how to count money – investments in energy efficiency are extremely profitable. This is a good example for other sectors of the economy.
How difficult do you think it is for the Russian economy to switch to "innovative tracks"?Given the historically developed raw material structure of the economy, the scale of the country, inertia of thinking and stereotypes, it will not be easy to switch to "innovative rails".
But we just don't have any other choice…
Are there difficulties in introducing innovations into production?Initially, the innovation arises as a result of theoretical studies, practical research and experiments.
In order to turn it into a real innovation, it is necessary to introduce innovation into production. This requires expensive marketing research, R&D, and the creation of a production and technical base. All this entails enormous expenditure of resources, both logistical and human. It is not surprising that often innovative activity from the point of view of forecasts may not justify itself, therefore, the pre-investment period of research, including business planning, marketing research, evaluation of economic efficiency and feasibility of innovation, requires a particularly careful approach. In our country, much less money is traditionally allocated for such work than in most developed economies of the world. And this is not so much a problem of the state as of the business itself. Although the state cannot stand aside here. For example, a Russian venture company has been formed to facilitate the introduction of innovations into production, and a Russian Energy Agency has been established in the energy sector for these purposes. Russian fundamental science is developing in the direction of innovation, a system of federal research universities has been created, which includes Novosibirsk State University. Much is being done at the regional level. For example, we have a regional fund for the promotion of venture investment in the Novosibirsk region. In addition, a fund for investments in innovative projects and programs is being formed in the region, which will be a partner of large state funds and corporations, in particular, RUSNANO. Such an instrument of innovation activity as the Technopark of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok has started to work effectively. Such a form of innovative activity as the international youth innovation forum "INTERRA" is in great demand. This year the forum is being held for the second time in Novosibirsk from September 23 to 25. Its purpose is to create conditions for productive communication, exchange of experience, generalization of expert opinions and study of the best practices for the development of innovative economy of regions, development of new technologies in the field of investment, social development and regional management.
How can the innovation market of Russia be characterized in general? How interesting are Russian developments and technologies to foreign investors?We have an innovative market in the formation stage.
The prospects, as I have already said, are very impressive. Unfortunately, it can be stated that Russian developments and technologies have recently been more in demand abroad than in our country. However, the situation is gradually changing. We are gradually ceasing to be perceived as a source of hydrocarbon resources and military equipment. We have already created a number of technologies that are competitive and interesting on world markets – these are nanotechnology, biotechnology, and innovations in the field of informatization, space, energy conservation, and many others. It is remarkable that the counter process of "influx of minds" to Russia and Skolkovo has begun here – a landmark, but not an isolated event. Along with the minds come foreign investments.
Not so long ago, a commission for the modernization of the economy was created, headed by the President. In your opinion, is the commission enough to cope with the tasks?The fact that such a commission has been created is a landmark step, signaling to business about a change in state priorities and a turn towards modernization and innovation.
The Commission is an advisory body that unites both state structures and business to solve the task of modernizing the country. This is, in a way, the highest platform for coordinating the gigantic work that is currently unfolding in the country. But without the active participation of all levels of government: from federal to regional and local, from large state corporations to small forms of entrepreneurship, from the Academy of Sciences to small university laboratories, it is impossible to solve the tasks of modernization. Modernization and innovation are our new national idea. And it should capture everyone. Then there will be success.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru30.08.2010