Russia relies on global technology leaders

Evgenia Noskova, "Russian Business Newspaper" 

On Sunday, the Open Innovations forum ended, the theme of which this year was formulated as "A man at the junction of the trends of the technological Revolution." The events and discussions were organized around five key areas of human life that technology has the greatest impact on – habitat, education, health and the entertainment industry.

"Obviously, changes are taking place in Russia, and they are happening as quickly in many ways as in other countries," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stressed. – I am glad that the business environment in Russia is still becoming more predictable. We have opportunities to invest in infrastructure, create a more comfortable environment for innovation, implement projects such as Skolkovo, and engage in venture investment." The Head of Government formulated four trends that are important from the point of view of the interests of the state. These are the restructuring of the labor market and the growth of its creative component, the "arrival into a new life" of generations born in the digital world, technological breakthroughs in industries (for example, biomedicine) and globalization and the "digitization" of education.

The first national innovation report prepared under the auspices of the Open Government was presented at the forum. The share of innovative products in Russia in the total output is still only 8-9%, while in the leading countries - about 15%. The results of Russian innovations still have low competitiveness: the share of the Russian Federation in global exports of high-tech goods is 0.4%, although there is a dynamic (in 2010, this figure was 0.21%).

"In recent years, in fact, the entire system of development institutions and various mechanisms of state support for innovation has been built and developed in our country. They have clearly earned, – said the head of RVC Igor Agamirzyan. – One can argue about the effectiveness, on the one hand, it raises certain doubts from the point of view of a specific economic result, because Russia's share in the global high-tech market is still not very significant. But over the years, there has been a positive trend: it became clear that the path of innovation and technological exports is actually the only remaining growth potential for us."

Here and below is the infographic of RG / Leonid Kuleshov / Evgenia Noskova

Experts admit that Russia is much less able to retain and attract human capital than the innovation leaders. In addition, the number of innovative companies in the country is three or more times lower than in the leading countries, the report notes. Russian companies are still not very receptive to technology: investments in intangible assets in the Russian Federation are 3-10 times lower than those of the leaders.

"It is necessary to ensure the concentration of resources around priority areas, such as the National Technology Initiative (NTI)," said Open Government Minister Mikhail Abyzov. – There is not so much money in the budget today to afford to throw it around. We need to concentrate them on really breakthrough projects. And, of course, it is necessary to increase the level of personnel training, because at the center of innovation is a person who creates innovations and implements them. But what needs to be done to develop an entrepreneurial, innovative initiative is our task for the near future."

Despite all the difficulties, there are companies in Russia that can be called "technological gazelles". The annual rating of medium-sized TechUspech technology companies was presented at the forum. They have already overcome the startup stage and reached noticeable production volumes and payback, while these remain independent of large corporations and play a crucial role in the development of innovation and improving the business climate. "We are holding the rating for the fourth time, and for me it is extremely important precisely because it is the average technology business that is the main leader and generator of innovations, from which national and global champions grow," Agamirzyan said. – Rating companies are growing significantly faster than the economy as a whole.

And even now, against the background of the general recession, they demonstrate sustainable development. They are also leaders in terms of exports and presence in global technology markets. In the leaders of non-primary high-tech exports, we primarily have companies from the IT sector, or rather, software. Today, this is the main hope for economic development and the main criterion for successful import substitution – it can really be done by someone who is successful in international markets."

Ivan Bortnik, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Fund for Assistance to the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere, drew attention to the fact that this year there is a serious advantage in the top 50 of the rating in the direction of companies from such industries as mechanical engineering, electronics and instrumentation, electrical engineering, industrial equipment. There are 26 such companies, and only 6 representatives of ICT. "I am pleased that the heavyweights came out on top," he noted, adding that companies from the top 50, despite all the economic disasters, have increased revenue by 35% over the past year (up to 78.2 billion rubles, in terms of one company's average revenue amounted to 1.6 billion rubles), and 60% of them supply products for export. Total expenditures on technical innovations increased by 19% (up to 19.1 billion rubles). Each company spends an average of 26% of its revenue on technical innovations, the share of R&D expenditures accounts for 12% of the annual turnover.

Nevertheless, Gazelles also have their own problems, which they told about at the forum. "As soon as you become sufficiently significant in your own market and go abroad, you face very tough opposition and non–market methods of competition," said Dmitry Morozov, CEO of BIOCAD. We are talking, in particular, about the financing of articles and media "stuffing" that Russian production is bad and they do not know how to do anything here except fundamental science. Mikhail Lifshits, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ural Turbine Plant, also believes that competition requires protective measures. According to him, the Russian infrastructure market is of great interest to foreign players because of its size and condition. "If someone wants to pick up a deal, they will drop in price "below the baseboard" just to go there – we face this regularly," he said.

Andrey Misyul, Development Director of Rakurs Engineering, spoke about the problems with the execution of large contracts concluded before the crisis. Now the restructuring of the cost of contracts is being worked out, they are being reviewed due to changes in the cost of equipment and software. "In our opinion, it is advisable, given the financial constraints in which we find ourselves, to concentrate support on those industries that can become competitive not only in the Russian market, but also in the world. The electric power industry is among them," he added.

Sergey Polyakov, Director General of the Foundation for Assistance to the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere, noted the need for a state program to promote the cultivation of global technological leaders. "In Russia, this issue is overlooked, companies are left to themselves, and the state passively watches who will survive, who will not. There are breakthroughs when companies become leaders in their fields, but everyone else has to survive in a harsh business climate," he said, adding that the fund is ready to lobby the interests of companies at the highest level.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Deputy General Director – Director of the RVC project office, believes that the companies participating in the rating should create their own association to lobby for their interests. "In order to enter the regime of persuasion and removal of negative barriers, it is necessary to come up with a specific formulated proposal. This means that if there are any prohibitive norms, they need to be pointed out, economically justify their presence and absence, show the problems associated with this," the expert said. – The question is not who has more money for lobbying, but who has more precisely formulated requests and competently built-in argumentation. With a little money, you can resist a huge industry, but here you have to think."

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03.11.2015