In the process of creating the information society
Dwain Ross
22 / February / 20
Visitors: 268
For example, in 2008, Sweden and Finland allocated financial resources for the development of R&D in relative terms almost two times more than the fifteen EU member states on average.
In Northern Europe, the high importance of innovation to maintain economic development and prosperity, to improve the quality of life, has received theoretical justification and practical implementation. Professor of Aarhus University B.O. Lundval developed the theory of a national innovation system, and Norwegian researcher Knut Sogner, based on a study of the economies of the Nordic countries, introduced the important concept of innovation culture.
The high return on innovation policy in these countries is ensured by two features. Firstly, it is closely intertwined with other areas of state action - with social, investment, regional, environmental, educational, tax and others. Secondly, in Northern Europe, a high level of cooperation has been achieved between the various links of the innovation chain, which forms the national innovation system, which provides higher returns than if the links of such a chain acted separately. This allows us to turn science and innovation directly into the productive power of society. According to the Trend Chart, a European information-analytical system, in modern Sweden the average time for technological innovations is almost two times shorter than in the UK. Innovation policy has a high status in all North European countries.
Another feature of innovation policy is the course to use regional potential. At the same time, responsibility for the implementation of innovation policy rests with the regions, and the central government develops an innovation strategy and holds other activities supporting innovation. Most national innovation agencies and innovation programs have a strong regional component.
Innovation in the Nordic countries has become a critical issue in political life, around which there is consensus. None of the parties disputes the claim that it is innovation that is the most important strategic resource and a means of ensuring national interests in the era of post-industrialization.
In Denmark, a fund was created based on income from oil produced in the North Sea, the funds of which, unlike similar funds in Norway and Russia, are used exclusively to finance research and innovation in high-tech sectors of domestic production. The state program “Innovation Sweden” is aimed at maintaining high competitiveness of the main sectors of domestic industry. According to estimates by the international organization Accountability, which, with the support of UNEP, calculates the competitiveness index, in 2012 the countries of Northern Europe achieved the greatest success in this regard. The development of science and technology and the embodiment of their results in the form of innovations in the countries of northern Europe is facilitated by their specific model of socio-economic development, which is often called social-democratic or Scandinavian.
Social orientation contributes to the development of science-intensive exports, as it allows you to expand domestic demand for innovative high-quality products, which, having established itself in the domestic market, then find their way into the world market. The export of high technology engineering products from the Scandinavian countries and Finland is characterized by higher foreign trade efficiency than the export of products with a low share of added value. This helps to obtain technological rents on the world market, which far exceeds the natural rents obtained from the export of fuel and raw materials.
In turn, high-tech exports, while increasing income from foreign trade, help maintain the functioning of the welfare state. The high demand for many innovative products is supported by the targeted activity of the state, which allocates significant funds for the procurement of goods and services related to the existence of a free education system, medical services, and various social services operating under the municipalities. Professor B.O. Lundvall theoretically substantiated the important role of consumption as a factor in the development of innovation.
According to the calculations of the European Commission for 2012, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are leaders in innovation development in the EU. The innovative orientation of economic development acquires very specific manifestations in the production and life of society in the countries of Northern Europe, where the transfer of energy, transport and manufacturing to sustainable development is carried out.
In Sweden, a state-run fifteen-year program has been developed to free the economy from hydrocarbon dependence by 2020. At present, this country is noticeably ahead of the EU average in terms of development of “green energy” and “green transport”. Only within 30 years, the share of oil in the energy balance of Sweden decreased from сократи to 1⁄3, and the share of renewable energy sources increased to 1⁄4, in the EU - only 6%, about 1⁄3 still falls on nuclear energy. As sources for biofuel production in Sweden, wastes from forestry, woodworking, food taste industry, public catering enterprises, etc. are used.
To stimulate the production of electric energy through environmentally friendly energy carriers, “green certificates” are used, which the state issues to electric energy producers - if they produce it from clean energy sources, for every kilowatt-hour of energy they produce. The rest of the manufacturers, the Swedish state is obliged to acquire "green certificates" in the free market.
Green taxes and tax credits for environmentally friendly consumption are also applied, for example, tax breaks have been introduced for owners of green cars. In Sweden, thanks to tax benefits, ethanol prices are kept low, which is продается cheaper than gasoline, although it costs more to produce. The main Swedish automobile companies Volvo and Saab already produce cars and trucks with hybrid engines that can consume ethanol or biofuels along with gasoline. Gradually, land transport in Sweden is converted to the use of environmentally friendly fuels - ethanol or biogas.
Another area of innovative renewal is the Swedish SymbioCity program, aimed at creating an environmentally friendly urban economy. In accordance with this program, regularly collected municipal waste is recycled to biogas. Such policies are pursued in Swedish cities by the government and the Swedish Trade Council. The fact is that this helps to increase export potential, Swedish export of environmentally friendly technologies has already reached 2% of the country's total exports, and it continues to grow rapidly.
The entrepreneurial culture as it has developed in northern Europe is different from the Anglo-Saxon countries. These features partly developed historically, partly they were formed under the influence of the doctrine of a socially responsible state, which was formulated and put into practice by the social democratic parties of these countries. Northern European business has a reputation for honest, fair and transparent business, the core of which is environmental and social responsibility.
Since the production and export of the Nordic countries is highly specialized, R&D is largely concentrated in those areas that are needed to maintain a position in the world market. Two major areas of specialization are distinguished: information and communication technologies, as well as life science - medical research, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Tested in practice, well-established organizational forms and methods of financing innovation are widely used: science parks, technology villages, clusters and venture financing, etc.
The countries of Northern Europe use the same forms of organization and financing of innovations as in other industrialized countries, but a socially oriented model allows them to realize their potential more efficiently, because here, due to a combination of a number of factors, a good innovative climate has developed. The most developed venture capital market in northern Europe has developed in Sweden.
After the construction of the bridge across the Öresund Strait, the Danish-Swedish innovation region emerged here, with 14 universities, 7 science parks and business incubators, 4 research and production clusters, 29 medical institutions, 300 biotechnology companies. Such well-known companies as Novo Nordisk, Lundbek, Koloplast, Novozim, AstraZeneca, Leo Pharmaceutical and others work here. In addition to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, electronics and optics are also developing in the region. The development of innovation in the region is jointly supported by the central and local authorities of Sweden and Denmark. About 40 thousand people work in high technology production in this region, which is one of the highest rates in Europe as a percentage of the total number of employees. It is believed that the Öresund Innovation Center, in terms of importance for the development of medical research and new drugs, ranks third in Europe after similar centers in the UK and France.
The famous Finnish company Nokia has organized an innovation center for the development of electronics and information and communication technologies in the north of the country in the city of Oulu. Since this experience turned out to be positive, later another innovative center of environmental orientation was created here. The development of innovation in northern Finland is facilitated by the regional policy of the central government, which was set the goal of achieving a relative alignment of the country's northern regions, which had previously lagged behind in terms of economic development compared to the southeastern regions.
In the north-west of Stockholm there is a Swedish innovation and production cluster for the development of electronics and information technology, created by the Swedish company Ericsson, a rival to Finnish Nokia. The cluster has thousands of companies and about 70 thousand are employed in the high-tech field. Two-thirds of them work in the field of electronics and computer science, so this cluster is called the Swedish Silicon Valley.
Denmark has become a world leader in the production of electric energy through wind power, as well as in the production and export of related equipment. It has become the largest producer of wind turbines, in some years its share in the world market for the supply of equipment for power plants operated by wind energy reached 40%. Denmark currently satisfies about 17% of its electricity needs with wind. The Danish government obliges local consumers to cover at least 1 / 5 of their consumption from “green sources” of energy. Those consumers who do not fulfill this requirement are forced to buy electric energy at a higher tariff, which is 2.7 times higher than ordinary. Denmark annually produces wind turbines worth more than 3 billion euros, 90% of which are exported.
The field of R&D in the countries of the European Union and Northern Europe is rapidly internationalizing. The fact is that the Scandinavian countries often do not have enough financial and human resources to obtain major scientific and technical results and to make significant technological breakthroughs, so they decided to combine their efforts in such an important area as R&D and innovation. According to the North European Innovation Center, the influx of foreign investment in innovation in the North European region exceeds the investment volume of the Scandinavian countries and Finland outside its region. This suggests that in this region, thanks to the social and innovative orientation of the economy, there are more favorable conditions for innovation in comparison with other countries of the world.
