Igniting technological modernization through science towns and technology parks: the case of Russia

Since the turn of the 21st century, the Russian state has attempted to address the country’s excessive dependence on natural resources. It has implemented an ambitious programme of economic modernization, including giving innovation more policy prominence and boosting state funding for research and development (R&D) and innovation. The programme includes a plethora of new initiatives, including innovation strategy documents, R&D funding for institutions, and state support for innovation infrastructure (e.g. clusters, science towns, and science and technology parks). However, despite investing substantial resources in science and technology since 2000 in a variety of forms and with an impressive legacy of scientific R&D from the Soviet period, Russia is still faring comparatively poorly in innovation outcomes, such as the number of innovative enterprises and international patent registrations. This thesis attempts to understand why Russia is performing comparatively poorly in innovation outcomes. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to examine why Russia is not doing as well in economic catch up and innovation as, for example, China. Following Taylor’s (2016) emphasis on the political economy of science, technology, and innovation policies, it suggests that a country’s political economy model is an important driver of innovation performance. The thesis finds that Russia has implemented a wide range of approaches to accelerate growth based on innovation and knowledge and provides new empirical material on Russia’s science towns and technology parks. Yet for all the good intentions and effort, Russia’s larger political economy model, as analysed here, has substantially hindered its rate of innovation and diffusion into commercial enterprises. The challenge of technological modernization is a matter of public concern and a problem to be solved by a diverse range of institutions and societal actors. Accordingly, technological modernization is enlightened by several conceptual perspectives. The five most helpful perspectives used in this thesis are certain modernization theories; rent-seeking (who benefits from modernization processes); neo-Schumpeterian and co-evolutionary growth approaches; innovation systems and innovation policies; and finally, sistema (Ledeneva, 2013), a political economic approach that explains key aspects of Russia’s current authoritarian system