The innovation system is still fragmented
Logic of cubes
Elena Morgunova, "Search" No. 26-2009
Last week, the Third Moscow Venture Forum was held, the participants of which discussed the policy of innovative development of Russia. The event was organized by the Department of Support and Development of Small Business in Moscow and the Agency for the Development of Innovative Entrepreneurship.
The innovation system today, by all accounts, works only on paper. But as for the prospects, there were optimistic notes in the speeches of the participants – directors of corporations, funds and venture companies, officials. It seemed that just the crisis was not enough for everyone to start building working schemes.
Igor Agamirzyan, CEO of the Russian Venture Company, announced that RVC is adjusting its policy. Recently, at the St. Petersburg Venture Forum, the Board of Directors approved a new company development strategy focused on interaction with all active market participants. This means that now the fund of funds will involve venture capital in innovative projects at all stages of their implementation (previously – only at late stages). In particular, to finance projects at the earliest stages, RVC is creating a seed investment fund, which will begin work in the fall and cover all regions of the country. Investments, the creation of venture infrastructure and the development of expertise are the three main blocks that the company will focus on.
RUSNANO will now work in close cooperation with RVC. "Together with RVC, we are going to create reference points in each region," said Dionysus Gordin, Managing Director of the corporation. "Real investment projects will be implemented there under strict control." According to him, the products of the companies participating in the competitions should first of all meet the demand on the world market, and not only in Russia.
"The money that will be distributed by RVC and Rusnano should work," Olga Uskova, President of the National Association for Innovation and Development of Information Technologies, addressed the innovators. According to her, both the association and legislators are ready to provide the necessary assistance for this and are waiting for relevant proposals from interested parties. She urged everyone to take an active position. "The mood of innovators has already changed," said O.Uskova, telling how recently, after a report by one of the regional officials on the support of projects in the scientific and technical sphere, listeners threw orange peels at him.
However, it turned out that the crusts should be feared by Fr.Uskovoy: a representative of one of the business structures accused her of unprofessionalism. A woman from the audience was dissatisfied with the ways of "supporting" small innovative businesses. Scenes with outraged lone innovators at such meetings began to be repeated more and more often, as if according to a given scenario.
"Innovative well–being has shrunk to the size of this hall today," said Ilya Ponomarev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications. – The forum is being held for the third time, but a lot has remained at the level of conversations." According to I.Ponomareva, this is not someone's malicious will, it's just that our economy is not "focused" on the consumption of innovative products. And the state needs to deal with the formation of demand.
A significant part of the plenary session was devoted to discussing how the global financial crisis affected investment activity in our country. Sergey Romashov, Director of Investment Asset Management at VTB Asset Management, Dmitry Vasyutinsky, Deputy CEO of Alliance ROSNO Asset Management, Alexander Galitsky, Managing Partner at Almaz Capital Partners, Yuri Frenchov, Director of Development at Intel Corporation, and the Manager of the Leader Innovation Venture Fund answered questions related to venture financing in the new conditions." Oleg Kuzhikov. According to financiers, the crisis is a time of interesting opportunities both for themselves and for those who want to develop a small innovative business. The fact is that large companies are shutting down many projects, so that small businesses have the opportunity to occupy previously inaccessible market niches. It was also noted that most of the projects that venture capitalists are interested in are in the field of IT technologies, where the "fastest" money is. From other industries – new materials, energy, petrochemicals.
After the plenary session, round tables on sections began, each of which was devoted to investments in IT projects, nano-, biotechnology. On the second day of the forum, its participants discussed "business angel" investment, the role of technoparks and other innovative infrastructure facilities, and spoke in detail about the work of venture investment funds.
The logo of the forum was a cube, which was displayed on all the programs, as well as as a screensaver on the hall screen. Outwardly, it looks very similar to a Rubik's cube, but it is clearly not intended for solving logical problems. In a sense, the organizers successfully depicted the real situation with innovations in the country.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru/01.07.2009