Innovative results of 2008
A round table "Innovation Industry in Russia — results of 2008" was held in Moscow, organized by the National Association for Innovation and Development of Information Technologies (NAIRIT). It was attended by Dmitry Severov, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Olga Uskova, President of NAIRIT, Ilya Ponomarev, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Sergey Aldoshin, as well as more than 50 representatives of leading Russian innovative companies, public organizations and institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As noted in the materials of the NAIRIT press service, the round table discussed the current results of the Russian industry of innovative technologies, as well as the degree of effectiveness of the state policy of stimulating innovative development.
Thus, according to Dmitry Severov, Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media, the Russian innovation sector currently has one of the most powerful potentials in the world. This is no longer the opinion of Russian specialists, but of recognized international experts. There are more than 4,000 research institutes and about 40,000 independent innovative companies operating in the country, leading developments across the entire spectrum of the most popular technological areas on the world market. The innovation sector receives strong financial support, which, according to Severov, amounted to about 1.3 trillion rubles this year alone, of which 945 billion rubles came from the state budget. However, such a powerful potential does not receive the proper level of implementation, since Russian developers are still poorly versed in the mechanisms of commercialization of innovative ideas. Thus, out of 108 "project" applications submitted to the Russian Investment Fund for Information and Communication Technologies, only 2% meet the formal requirements generally accepted for venture funds in terms of technological and economic justification.
A similar opinion was expressed by the president of NAIRIT Olga Uskova. She noted that the issue of the effectiveness of the implementation of Russian innovative developments continues to be one of the most acute. She sees the reason for this in the absence of a unified balanced state innovation policy and an independent system of professional control. Thus, 76% of the total amount of state venture investments made was directed to financing companies with foreign participation. In particular, the first transaction of the state corporation "Rusnano" was an investment in a Dutch innovation company. Such a situation can hardly be considered acceptable, since Russian state funds should go to the development of the Russian, not foreign, innovation sector. Moreover, in a crisis, Russian developers can only rely on public investment, since private customers are drastically reducing their "innovative" budgets.
Thus, as of November 2008, the expenses of private companies for the implementation of innovative projects decreased by almost 80%, business angels - by 50%, venture funds — by 40%. According to NAIRIT, the total losses of the innovation market since the beginning of the crisis amounted to 250 billion rubles.
As one of the main results of its activities in 2008, NAIRIT announced the introduction of the first stage of the "Universal Education" project, designed to provide training to developers on the basics of innovative business.
As confirmed by the Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Aldoshin, the level of competence of developers of new technologies in terms of commercialization of their research results is extremely low, but this is not the only problem of the Russian innovation industry. There are also legislative obstacles to the development of innovations, in particular, universities and research institutes do not have the right to create small innovative companies. However, the academician noted, this issue is being resolved now. Another problem is that the Russian Academy of Sciences, as a generator of new fundamental research, has the right to sell its developments, but cannot use the money from their sale, but must transfer them completely to the budget of the Russian Federation. Consequently, developers have no interest in selling the results of their research.
According to Ilya Ponomarev, Chairman of the Subcommittee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on technological development, the problem of the efficiency of the Russian innovation sector is associated with the lack of specific centers of responsibility for the implementation of innovation policy in the executive power system.
NAIRIT is a public non—profit association uniting Russian developers of innovative technologies. The Association was established on September 12, 2006 with the support of relevant ministries, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as representatives of leading teams of developers of innovative technologies.
The main objectives of NAIRIT are to unite domestic intellectual resources in the development of innovative technologies, to organize the interaction of association members with representatives of public and private venture investment funds, to assist venture funds in choosing priority innovative projects, as well as to ensure public control over the process of financing innovative projects by funds.