Hi-tech in Russia is less than high-tech
According to the press service of the Institute for Research Statistics and Economics (ISSEK) of the Higher School of Economics, massive investments in high-tech companies are a key tool for the innovative development of most countries that are leaders in the global economy. They said that the staff of the ISSEK Russian Cluster Observatory for the first time assessed the scale of investment activity in high-tech and compared them with the contribution of countries to the global pool of relevant organizations and individuals in the field of science, technology and creative industries.
According to the authors of the report, the greatest relationship can be traced between the indicators of revenues and revenues of unicorn companies, and also has a high citation of scientists (correlation coefficient – 0.98), slightly less – with Nobel and Fields Prize winners and leaders in creative investments (0.95 ) , then – with subsequent technological operations (0.87). “Such high correlation values indicate a clear inclination of economic leaders to be located in countries with extensive natural interests,” they explained.
Russia is among the countries where the leaders of the economy are faced with a huge amount of investment: Russia, France and Switzerland – Nobel and Fields Prize winners; Russia, France and Italy are the leaders of creative industries, China is the importance of company innovations and unicorns.
For example, highly cited scientists and Nobel laureates require reputable educational and scientific organizations; the main advertising agencies are large customers in the face of corporations, etc. of the intensification of the synthesis of high technologies and the creative world. , the study authors explain.
According to them, if you look at the profile of Russia, you can see that talents (demands) outweigh financial opportunities (supply). Russia ranks 7th in the world among living Nobel and Fields Laureates, 18th in terms of leaders in the creative industries, and 35th in terms of highly cited scientists.
“At the same time, in terms of volume with high-tech enterprises, Russia ranks 38th in the world, which is significantly lower than its positions among other countries in terms of the size of the economy (6th place) and domestic spending on research and development (9th place). Even to a small extent, investments are made in high-tech companies,” the authors of the study note.
According to them, various studies show that Russia’s possible weak spot is large corporate systems that can find, reveal and concretize technical and creative talents that occupy important conditions for self-realization. “A manifestation of this organizational weakness is the presence of only three Russian companies in the list of 2500 Industrial R&D Scoreboard, as well as the lack of unicorn companies in Russia. in the BRICS countries. Argentina (1) – and on the way: Senegal (1). study.
Director of the Russian Cluster Observatory Center at ISSEK HSE Evgeny Kutsenko noted that investors with experience of successful investments in high-tech companies are a separate and rare cohort. “Russia has yet to find its high receptivity to fast-growing high-tech companies. And here we need to think about bilateral support: both those who demand breakthrough market projects, and those who are ready to take risks investing in them. achieved others,” he said.
Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov believes that in the next 1-2 years in Russia there is every chance to increase its position in investment activities in the field of high-tech and technology, since enterprises in this area are now opening in the country, the state is supporting them in every possible way with tax easing. , concessional lending, investments, etc. “The fact is that in the experiments, studies were observed precisely in domestic enterprises. A year ago, Russian enterprises in this industry were not so in demand. They invested in companies with extensive experience and a worldwide reputation, that is, most of the investments came from foreign companies. In the end, As a result, the situation should change a lot,” the disease analyst.
Analyst FG “Finam” Leonid Delitsyn Economics, which usually promises to improve Russia’s position in various high-tech rankings come from deputies already planning to switch to teaching. “Whatever the reasons for the status quo, our country is in the middle of such rankings – somewhere between 35 and 40 places. It’s such a magical constant, like the speed of light of all, and the deviation up and down is either anomaly or rating errors. property”, – the analyst is sure. According to the statement, in the global division of labor, Russia has been a reliable supplier of fruits (hydrocarbons, metals, timber, etc.) for the last 30 years in the near future. In the next 1-2 years, of course, there are chances for an increase in the position, if the population agrees to tighten their belts , reduce consumption and give all savings to scientists and programmers. . But we don’t print it,” says Leonid Delitsyn. If Russia invested more in his technical and creative talents, then now yachts and palaces would be confiscated from programmers and signalmen, and not from oilmen and bankers. “However, if we proceed from experience of Kaspersky Lab in the market, the rating of Russia remained exactly the same as it was. , “Huawei Princess” Meng Wanzhou was under responsible extradition from Canada to the United States for two years at the request of then-President Donald Trump. some our “tsarevich”,” the analyst said.
Center “Russian Cluster Observatory” ISSEK NRU HSE believes that talent in itself is not enough. “We need strong, private technology companies with specific independent owners, visionaries and leaders who create recognizable world products, who are idols for young people who are passionate about technology. We have always had relatively many good scientific and scientific achievements – both during the period of the Russian Empire, and during times of the USSR companies; in the event of a risk, they risk remaining unclaimed,” he says.
According to Leonid Delitsyn, corporations should take risks and invest in foreign startups instead of ready-made solutions from Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, etc. (besides, already implemented by representatives), corporations should see how they make money on inventions. “This is a chicken-and-egg problem. It cannot be solved without the state’s modernization policy. And holiday incentives are unlikely to be sufficient,” the analyst believes. According to him, in the next 1-2 years, a lot will be expected from the geopolitical situation. “If the tension is limited by the availability of skills, and most importantly, it will be difficult to explain why. The task is to squeeze in the country. The high-tech rating of those at the top is not an easy task to lure tourists from Turkey and the region to Crimea and Sochi, but most likely even more difficult” , – Leonid Delitsyn is sure.
Evgeny Kutsenko, that the next 1-2 years of improving Russia’s position in terms of investment in high-tech companies will depend on whether qualified investors appear in Russia who are ready to invest on a large scale in domestic companies. “Perhaps there will be a large part of large large venture funds (which, obviously, should not be expected in relation to our country). On July 18, 2022, the Federation for Strategic Development and Humanitarian Projects decided to capitalize the RDIF (within which it has recently been developing ” Russian Venture Company”), as well as once again approach the issue of completing state-owned companies in this process. There is no information on the amount of financing and tools for connecting state-owned companies to investing in high-tech companies,” he said. On the assumption that Russia will join the club of countries – leaders in smart investment. “The question is rather whether we are yet another attempt to apply a sustainable system of financing high-tech companies, but in new, unfavorable conditions? I think that in a year it will be clear,” Evgeny Kutsenko believes. According to him, a gradual shift in the focus of state policy attention is needed: from state-owned companies to specific technology firms. “Among the latest and small and significant enterprises (which are now going to “digitize” and are responsible for compliance), and what are called champions (seemingly their taste, but not very well believed in them), and unicorns (which are in their purest form we don’t have it yet and it’s very symptomatic),” he warns.
Vladimir Chernovik, that, judging by the study, the extreme backlog in Russia among significant large companies, martial arts companies and investments in high-tech companies, these places are occupied and need to be closed. “Investments in a Russian company should increase by the end of the year. Creating a unicorn company in the current financial market conditions this year will be extremely serious,” he says. In his opinion, the situation with investments in high-tech companies in the coming years may change in the opposite direction , as they currently have a high demand in the foreign market.”First of all, the interest in development will play a big role in the growth of investment. According to the results of 2022, the same situation can be found in the first quarter as in the previous year, but in the subsequent ones we have identified an observable situation,” the analysts reveal.