Sociocultural Restrictions on the Commercialization of Innovations in Russia

Abstract

The innovation process involves not only inventive activity, but also successful commercialization of inventions. While the inventive potential in Russia was and remains at a fairly high level, when it comes to the promotion of new products to the market, Russian innovators usually have difficulties. Such a paradox can be associated with various factors: geographical conditions and the availability of natural resources, political factors, as well as socio-economic and institutional factors. This article focuses on the sociocultural factor as a constraint to successful commercialization of innovations in Russia. In addition to a theoretical review of the problems, the results of in-depth interviews conducted in 2015–2016 are presented. During the interview, three groups of innovation process participants/potential participants were interviewed, namely representatives of the scientific and inventive environment, the business environment, and the development institute specially created by the state to support the commercialization of scientific developments (“Skolkovo”). The sample included respondents from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, and Penza. According to the survey, the commercialization of innovations in Russia can be limited by significant differences in the values of scientists/inventors and business, low level of trust, paternalism, the “win-lose” ideology, and negative attitude to innovations in the society. In addition, the article raises the question of transforming sociocultural constraints into a set of potentials depending on socio-economic conditions and development goals, and discusses the possibility of applying the results of sociocultural studies in carrying out reforms.