Vera Barinova, Senior Researcher at Real Sector Department of the Gaidar Institute, explained how regional support measures help achieve technological sovereignty and why it is at the regional level that the foundations for technological breakthroughs are being laid today.
The expert emphasized that extensive global experience has already been accumulated in the use of measures to stimulate regional technological development. Over time, there has been a shift in emphasis and new concepts have emerged within which this experience is being systematized. For example, some time ago, relevant research was devoted to the development of Henry Etzkowitz's so-called “Triple Helix” (partnership between government, business, and universities), cluster initiatives, and regional innovation systems, within which all measures of technological development at the regional level, including institutional ones, were analyzed.
Vera Barinova identified a basic set of regional development tools that remain fairly universal:
- The creation of high-tech clusters and the infrastructure that unites them, often with unified management bodies (agencies, management companies).
- The creation of free economic zones with preferential conditions for business.
- Creation of technology parks offering developed infrastructure, a range of services, and preferential conditions for business.
- Large-scale infrastructure projects that attract investment, technology, and create jobs.
- Interbudgetary fiscal transfers – a system for equalizing budgetary provision.
- Subsidizing joint or individual research projects, primarily with the participation of small and medium-sized innovative enterprises and start-ups.
As the expert noted, general measures are also applied at the regional level, such as subsidies for research and development, tax incentives for innovative companies, financial support (grants, credit programs, venture financing support), policies to attract and retain highly qualified personnel, and specialized support for enterprises in certain industries, primarily high-tech ones.
In her opinion, given the need to cut budget spending, it is advisable to consider a set of regional innovation policy measures within the paradigm of “smart specialization,” in which regional development priorities are determined based on the competitive advantages of the regions. Accordingly, support measures are also differentiated by territory.
In the study “The Paradigm Shift in Regional Innovation Policy in Russia: From Equalization to Smart Specialization” (2016), the expert proposed differentiated support measures – from intensive international cooperation for regions with maximum potential to social policy in underdeveloped peripheral regions. As innovation potential declines, the complexity of the industries being developed should also decrease.
Vera Barinova noted that in the current conditions, given the reorientation of international cooperation and technological constraints, regional specialization remains a relevant tool for technological development.