₽165.4bn on innovation and performance is ‘below average’
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published
The Accounts Chamber assessed state support for innovation in 2019-2023 and identified a number of problems: duplication of measures, disproportionate funding in favour of technology leaders, lack of transparency of infrastructure.
🔍 Evgeny Borisov, partner at investment company KAMA FLOW, agrees with the Audit Chamber's conclusions, but clarifies important nuances:
📌 The state support is mainly aimed at large players, while young teams and university projects are left aside. This hinders the emergence of new significant market players.
📌 The innovation infrastructure is not transparent enough even for professional investors, let alone startups.
📌 Grant support for innovation is necessary - its reduction would be a mistake. In developed markets, 1/5 to 1/10 of state support is provided per 1 ruble of private investment.
📌 Support for technologies not recognised as strategically important is also justified.
‘Regulatory documents often lag behind the reality and may lose relevance in just a few years.’
- notes Evgeny Borisov.
📌 In general, the goals of innovation infrastructure development remain ‘insufficiently ambitious’, and the results are more a natural consequence of economic development than the outcome of targeted efforts.