Innovation based development in Russia needs regulatory and legal support

Russianeeds a regulatory and legal basis to give boost to innovation driven activities. The problems that arise due to the «legal gaps» in this respect, together with some others, are on the agenda for discussion by the Participants of the «Demand for Innovations: Build-Up and Motivation» round table , which has been scheduled for September, 9, as part of the VI Baikal Economic Forum .

According to Ivan Golovnyhk, Rector of the NIU IrGTU Institute, we still lack a Federal law on development of innovation based activities, although this question has been raised for quite a long time.

- We in the Irkutsk region saw a regional Law on Innovations passed seven years ago, - Ivan Golovnyhk was quoted as saying. -  To our regret, it cannot work in full – first of all, because we don’t a Federal document. There is also no law on the right to assigning a license to be patented as know-how. We, being developers of new technologies, have encountered a host of problems, due to no relevant legal and regulatory basis being available. For example, at present we have been interacting with a number of foreign entities interested in our research and engineering projects. There is a problem of assigning licenses for some of them. However, it is difficult to do because there’s no relevant law.

There are problems connected with Law 217-ФЗ«On Amending Individual Legal Acts of the Russian Federation Covering the Issues of Establishment by Budget Scientific and Education Entities of Economic Associations with the Aim of Practical Application (Implementation) of Results of Intellectual Activities » - in particular, those connected with evaluating the intellectual property, which is embedded in setting up such establishments.

- There are no single and approved methods of calculating the value of intellectual property, - Ivan Golovnyhk remarks. -  In addition to this, there is one «misunderstanding», which does not allow using these small business innovation entities according to simple taxation schemes.

There are complications caused by the tax regulation. If, for example, a device is developed by Russian engineers, a tremendous problem is to import components and parts for it from abroad. However, even if this device has been developed and sold abroad, it is practically impossible later to deliver this device into Russia for maintenance and then deliver it back- abroad. The design engineers say: it is easier for us to send the customer a new device, than provide for its maintenance in Russia.

In the meanwhile, according to Mr. Dmitry Yalov, Temporary Ministry for Economic Development, Labor, Scientific Research and Higher Education of the Irkutsk region, «on the innovation market we have to compete globally with the most advanced developers and engineers– the USA, China, Japan. No one makes us allowances because we introduced the market economy later than others. The customers buy technologies and equipment when and where it is the most beneficial and convenient for them. And the more coordinated we are, and the quicker we will adjust the Russian legal basis to meet the market demands, the stronger our competitive power will be. And we don’t have much time to achieve that.  If we fail to make a leap today, tomorrow we might fail to do it at all».

IV BEF Press Center