Innovations are looking for a name – Newspaper Kommersant No. 182 (7383) dated 03.10.2022

By November 1, the government must fulfill the president’s order and define the concept of a “technology company” so that officials can more effectively select recipients of state support. The HSE ISSEK experts participating in the discussion suggest using the experience of China, where a comprehensive system for evaluating the innovativeness of companies is used, which includes both formal criteria and the results of an examination. As noted in the ISSEK study on this topic, such a system would require companies to provide data voluntarily, and this process would be desirable to stimulate – for example, tax incentives.

The order to determine what are technology companies that use innovative technologies in their activities was given to the White House in early September (see Kommersant of September 6). The stated goal of this work is to provide targeted measures of state support in the field of technological development. As Kommersant was told in the Ministry of Economy, “the criteria for technology companies are currently being worked out jointly with experts and interested authorities.”

ISSEK experts participating in the discussion note that the difficulty in defining the criteria lies, in particular, in the fact that statistics do not allow solving this problem, since primary statistical data are impersonal. The ISSEK study on this topic notes that accounting reports are the almost uncontested source of reliable information about the activities of companies; it is they that allow us to detect two clear signs of innovative activity – intangible assets (IA) and research and development results (R&D).

However, both have natural limitations. Intangible assets are a broad concept, reporting does not allow to assess the value received directly as a result of R&D. In addition, part of the company’s total R&D expenses may be hidden in the reporting, for example, they may be included in intangible assets or property, plant and equipment. Another difficulty is that for organizations that use simplified accounting methods, this information is not highlighted in the reporting at all. According to ISSEK, only 29% of legal entities provide complete financial statements. In the Russian Federation in 2021, there were 3.2 million legal entities, and, according to experts, no more than 1.6% of them reflected in the financial statements data on the cost of intangible assets and 0.1% on the results of R&D.

In such a situation, the ISSEK proposes to use the experience of China, where the system for identifying technology companies has been developing since at least 2008. Applicants for this status are first evaluated by quantitative indicators that reflect the types of innovative activities and are differentiated according to the size of the company (the share of employees involved in research and development, the share of their costs in revenue, and others). In addition, an expert assessment of the innovative potential of the enterprise and verification of the information provided by the applicant is carried out – this is done by special accreditation agencies. If a company meets all the formal criteria and passes the examination, it is included in the list of technological companies and can receive tax preferences.

At the same time, Evgeny Kutsenko, director of the Russian Cluster Observatory Center at ISSEK, notes that the Chinese system requires enterprises to provide data on a voluntary basis, so the issue of business incentives comes to the fore. Since the Chinese approach is applicable to assessing a wide range of organizations (thousands and tens of thousands), companies in the Russian Federation could be motivated by providing tax benefits to those who are ready to disclose their performance to the authorities.

Venera Petrova