Translated material
Sum of technologies
Trying to use every chance to obtain the status of a special economic zone, regional officials created cumbersome projects for technology parks, including as many areas of scientific and technical activity as possible to please the authorities. Moreover, they are not always promising from the point of view of production and business.
For its part, the federal center changed the “rules of the game” on the fly, first allowing not only recognized scientific centers to participate in the competition, but also, for example, seaports, and then appointing winners based on its vision of the need for the development of certain regions.
The recently completed federal competition for the status of a special economic or technology innovation zone, which was held among the country's largest academic centers, brought somewhat unexpected results to the scientific community. Contrary to the promises made by high-ranking officials that the goal of a large-scale multi-billion dollar project is to develop the knowledge economy in Russia and introduce the latest inventions into industry, the competition showed that the scientific and technical potential of research centers is far from a primary parameter. And this change in the “rules of the game” during the course of the game itself can exacerbate the already far from rosy relations between scientists and the government.
In particular, in the academic environment, almost no one doubted that the status of a special economic zone (SEZ) would be given to the Novosibirsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is today a leader in the field of innovative research and implementation in production. But the Tomsk Science Center unexpectedly appeared on the list of SEZs. Tomsk residents, starting from 2006, will receive a total of about 9 billion rubles. from the federal budget for the construction of the technology park, infrastructure around it and roads.
Let us remind you that the SEZ status provides the winner with a number of undeniable advantages in addition to abundant financing. Firms located in such a zone are exempt from paying property tax and land tax for the first five years. The single social tax rate is reduced from 26 to 14%. In addition, the territory will have a free customs zone regime, according to which foreign goods are placed and used within its borders without paying customs duties and taxes.
Offended Novosibirsk scientists, and representatives of the regional administration, in particular the deputy governor of the Novosibirsk region, head of the department of science and innovation Gennady Sapozhnikov, believe that “the decision of the competition commission may have been influenced by geopolitical reasons.” Tomsk was offended at one time by the fact that The Trans-Siberian Railway passed by, because Akademgorodok was built not in Tomsk, but in Novosibirsk. And now, probably, the government has decided to balance the chances of the neighboring regions. “However, the Novosibirsk Scientific Center employs 5,100 employees, and in Tomsk there are only 800 people. If we take the number of scientists in the territory from the Urals to Yakutia, then almost 60% of doctors of science and about 50% of candidates of science will come from Novosibirsk. Academgorodok is world famous and occupies leading world positions in a number of areas,” said Mr. Sapozhnikov in an interview with. correspondent for Vremya Novostey.
It is noteworthy that Novosibirsk was not lucky with the competition for the title of Siberian leader in the field of education. The local state university, located in Akademgorodok and which is actually an educational institution of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gave way to Krasnoyarsk University, which will soon add the title “national” to its name, and with it 3 billion rubles. from the federal development budget. As Novosibirsk residents are sure, this competition was also an exclusively formal event. The local press even published many publications talking about the rapid political strengthening of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, led by Governor Alexander Khloponin, who hosted the United Russia congress, and about dissatisfaction in the center with the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region, Viktor Tolokonsky.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tolokonsky really relied on the status of a special zone and even became hostage to the promise given to the president earlier this year. Having visited Novosibirsk in January 2005, Vladimir Putin instructed the local authorities to develop a project for the construction of a technology park specializing in information technology. Expecting help from the federal budget, Novosibirsk residents included the IT park in their project for SEZ status on a par with the biomedicine and analytical instrumentation park. “Without waiting for the government’s decision to create a technology park, we created a management company, the founders of which included the regional administration, the Novosibirsk mayor’s office, SoRAN and two software associations,” said the Deputy Governor for Science and Innovation. “Next, we announced a competition to select a development company, held it and prepared technical specifications for developing the concept and entire policy for creating a technology park.” After the head of state’s visit to Novosibirsk, IBM, Microsoft, HP opened their representative offices in the city, and Intel even created a research laboratory here. But Akademgorodok did not pass the competition. As a result, the administration of the Novosibirsk region will have to carry out the instructions of the president at its own expense. Viktor Tolokonsky had no choice but to promise in early December that he would spend 500 million rubles. from the regional budget for the construction of a technology park.
Representatives of the regional administration assure that the governor did not pursue political goals. “If you look at the map of Siberia, the Novosibirsk region is perhaps the only region that does not have natural resources,” commented Gennady Sapozhnikov. -- In addition, the distance from the center imposes its own difficulties on the transportation of any manufactured products. It's expensive. If we don't produce something special, we are unlikely to compete in the global market. That’s why the governor emphasized the development of an economy based on knowledge, that is, an innovative economy.”
At the same time, the governor’s idea has many opponents in the presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to many academics, the IT park will not bring profit to institutions, since the demand for domestic information technologies in the world is low. Academy Town would like the region to spend money on another technology park - a biomedical one. There is no doubt about the commercial success of this project, especially since there is already a groundwork - three years ago, construction of a pharmaceutical factory began at the Novosibirsk Scientific Center.
The situation with the Novosibirsk scientific center, which threatens to turn into another “war” for the government with eminent scientists, has only recently received some relief. Minister of Economic Development German Gref suggested that Novosibirsk Akademgorodok think about a new status. The official name has not yet been determined, but the SoRAN has already dubbed it a science park by analogy with the science park at the University of Oxford. As part of this project, if Mr. Gref’s words are implemented, Akademgorodok will be able to create a park not only for information technology, but also for biomedicine, and will receive money from the federal budget for the creation of infrastructure. And, in addition, it will be able to independently produce products on an industrial scale, and not limit itself to creating a pilot batch, as prescribed in the conditions of a special economic zone. The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences would be quite happy with this outcome of events. But, given the abundance of promises that were previously made by officials and were not brought to legislative formalization, there is still doubt in Akademgorodok that this time scientists can remain in the role of wonderful dreamers.