The state and society treat innovations from a utilitarian point of view, which is quite justified. Thanks to this practicality, Western society was able to ensure the growth of labor productivity and a high standard of living of the population..
In the West, innovation is everywhere — updated building materials, electronics and robots have long been used. The active development of innovative activities has led to the fact that new technologies have long penetrated the interior of each room, have become a part of the life of a Western person. In our country, innovative activities are just beginning to develop..
Innovative activity has a number of features:
• The need for investments that can pay off (or not pay off) only in the future.
• A long period from the beginning of development to the release of products to the market, and the costs can begin to be covered only some time after the start of sales. Discounting is used to recoup investment in innovation.
• High risks are not conducive to attracting investment in the innovation sector. This issue requires amendments to the legislation..
Risk is an inherent feature of innovation, as some of the funds will inevitably disappear. The statistics do not inspire optimism: out of 100 scientific and technical innovations, only 20 enter the market, and only 10 of them pay off. Nevertheless, successful innovations, and therefore the whole society, offset the costs in the form of risky investments..
Over the past 10-15 years, the attitude towards innovation in Western Europe has changed. If before that it was clearly lagging behind the United States, which were the world leaders in innovation, now a European search financing market has emerged, similar to the American one. A significant role was played by the desire of Western European states to create a favorable «innovative» image for themselves.
In our country, the attitude towards innovation in practice remains rather wary. This is due to the conservative thinking and fear of risks of the management of a number of Russian companies. However, innovative development is the only way that can give a powerful impetus to the development of society..
With modernization as with housing — you can change the interior of a house with little cost, but to live in a completely renovated room, you need a major overhaul. The economic activity of many companies, and the country as a whole. has long been in need of the same «overhaul».
