Russia's bid for technoparks

Oleg Kuzbit, Managing Editor of the Web Information Department of Marchmont Capital Partners 

Russians are a stubborn people. There are so many achievements in the history of our country despite unimaginable obstacles (not everything that has been accomplished has gone for the good of the country, but that's another question). And Russians are also such an interesting nation, which falls in love with an idea the more categorically this idea is exposed as unrealistic abroad. 

These properties (in many ways so similar) of a persistent national character have found their collective application in the semi-deification of the idea of our native "Silicon Valley". 

Wherever any event is held at which the protocol provides for the utterance of the word "innovation", officials of all levels verbally generate all kinds of "valleys" throughout our endless time zones. This is no less a fashionable topic for experts who, with their analytical materials, are trying to bring dreamers back from heaven to earth. (Here, by the way, is a quite thoughtful English–language comment about the most propagandized Russian "valley" from a foreigner who believes in Russia - Bill Robinson, "Russia Insider": Why Russia’s Skolkovo Innovation Center Is Off Strategy.) 

However, if we put aside sarcasm, it is obvious that all these generations are real attempts by the Russian government to put the country on the rails of modernization, and such as has proven its "professional suitability" in the world. Nine years ago, it was stated that there would be not only words, but also deeds. And from 2007 to 2014, more than a billion dollars (based on the average ruble exchange rate against the US currency during this period) was spent on large technology parks in 13 regions of the country. Some are really built from scratch. 

By 2013, about 90 technoparks of all possible sizes, including 13 federal-level ones, had already been registered in Russia. Some of them – such, of course, as the Akadempark in the Novosibirsk region, the IT park in Tatarstan, the Zhiguli Valley near Samara or, say, the Technospark near Moscow - are already known throughout the country. 

Technopark projects continue to multiply across Russia – some in the form of tangible real estate, some on paper - and it is not surprising that observers are increasingly concerned about the question: are these multibillion-dollar projects the real development of the innovation ecosystem or, in part, pleasing the eyes of officials "ticks" that officials of the regions happily are they reporting "up"? 

If not "ticks", then there is something resembling them, and there are a lot of them, as it appears from a very deep and professional analysis of the specialists of JSC RVC. It is obvious that after all the giant injections, some of the projects, alas, are still lifeless or, at best, simply do not correspond to the elementary idea of them as the focus of the innovation ecosystem. 

There is one common "sword of Damocles" hanging over Russian innovators, striking indiscriminately, and this sword is barely noticeable, and sometimes simply absent demand for domestic innovative developments from large Russian enterprises. Many residents of technoparks have very vague prospects for entering the market, and many simply wind down their business. What remains to the administrations of such "skeletons without flesh" from real estate? Rent out the premises of technoparks for offices or construction sites. 

Other innovators remain, trying to continue working even with the crumbs of investment that they get. But there are cases when the quality of research suffers in this struggle for survival. And here a paradoxical situation arises: those Russian companies that would be happy to buy technological solutions from young developers at home, nevertheless, go abroad for all this. Why? Yes, because, according to experts of the Higher School of Economics, only 15% of innovative products produced in Russia fully meet the aspirations of business. 

At the end of the summer, there was a message that the government decided to address the root of the problem. A document is being prepared, according to which, from January next year, it will simply be impossible for state-owned companies not to like innovations. It is prescribed to allocate at least 2% of the purchase contracts for the purchase of innovative products, and at least half of these amounts should be directed to the purchase of high-tech developments of small and medium-sized businesses (and these are just the key inhabitants of technoparks). 

By 2018, according to the draft resolution, the Cabinet of Ministers plans to spur even more ardent passion of state-owned companies for innovation and demand higher percentages of deductions. 

When you think about such initiatives – very, in general, progressive - two things come to mind. 

Firstly, Russian laws, and even more so by-laws, are famous for their loopholes and opportunities for maneuver. They are not so difficult to get around – at the same time, I'm not even hinting at bribes to officials, no. It's just that lawyers of companies that will sue, not wanting to risk their reputation and acquire a product of questionable quality (remember those 15%?), will easily resort to an expanded – and quite logical – interpretation of the "holey" by-law in favor of their clients, and this may be enough to make the accusation crumble. As an old English proverb says, "you can lead a horse to a watering hole, but you can't make him drink."… 

But even if the state increases pressure and forces its "horses" to "drink" from the river of technopark activity, no matter how it happens that in the heat of excitement, the preachers of the idea of technoparks will miss – as has already happened in the recent past – an important point, namely, the philosophy of innovation in the broad sense of the word. After all, if the spirit of free enterprise is not allowed to settle in Russian technoparks – and this is the main condition for the appearance of such a coveted homegrown "Silicon Valley" – and not just to settle, but to rule the ball in them, these huge construction "ticks" paid from our taxes will fly out in orderly rows into the "pipe" stories.

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28.10.2015