Scientists have found out what affects digitalization in industry

Foreign capital actively contributed to the modernization of the Russian economy, researchers from the Higher School of Economics and Ural Federal University found out. He supported the introduction of robotics in industry, and companies with foreign ownership showed greater productivity. With the departure of foreigners from the Russian Federation, the modernization potential may be significantly reduced. The de facto authorities are reorienting Russian R&D towards reengineering, which in the end will only slow down productivity in the Russian Federation in comparison with the leading countries. Perhaps realizing this, the White House is ready to open the doors to new foreign investors – but the liberalization of the regime is aimed at friendly countries, among which there are few technology leaders.

A team of scientists from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Mikhail Kuzyk, Yuri Simachev and Anna Fedyunina) and UrFU (Lyudmila Ruzhanskaya) studied the factors of using end-to-end digital technologies – robots, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing – at industrial enterprises. Despite the obvious positive shifts in digitalization, the Russian Federation still lags behind the world leaders in the use of advanced technologies. The study (the article will be published in the journal Economic Issues) is based on data from a survey of enterprises conducted in 2018, a sample of 1.7 thousand companies.

As explanatory variables, scientists identified several internal and external factors, including the presence of a foreign owner and the state in the company’s capital, globalization of activities, and the level of digital maturity. Among the conclusions of the study are the restrictive role of imports for the use of robots and AI; the positive impact of foreign capital in the company on the introduction of robotics, not only at innovative enterprises, but in general; the significant role of state capital for innovative companies implementing robots and additive technologies.

The role of foreign capital in the modernization of the economy, the importance of imports for the introduction of robots is also evidenced by the results of a study by the authors of the Higher School of Economics “The impact of robotization on the productivity of industrial enterprises in Russia” (Anna Fedyunina, Nikolai Gorodny and Yuri Simachev) – the article was published in the 21st volume of the Russian Journal management”. As the authors note, “this is the first approach to assessing the effects of the introduction of industrial robots” in Russia through the impact of direct imports of robots on the productivity of enterprises.

The database for this study was 81.8 thousand companies in processing in 2011-2018 with a revenue of at least 10 million rubles. per year at the end of the period. The scientists counted only 295 direct importing enterprises in the specified period. The researchers explain the use of import data by the fact that imported robots occupied up to 96% of their total market in the Russian Federation, while the share of direct imports by companies did not exceed 9% and accounted for less than 1% of enterprises. Interestingly, however, these are predominantly large companies with foreign capital and exporting enterprises, that is, internationalized companies with higher productivity (both total factor productivity and labor productivity).

The scientists concluded that importing robots does not provide such companies with productivity advantages, however, “the productivity premium from importing robots for non-internationalized companies is comparable in size to the effect of exporting or attracting foreign capital” (which probably describes the economic potential of robotization of purely Russian companies).

However, the withdrawal of foreign capital will significantly reduce this modernization potential. Russia’s technological development efforts will de facto be aimed at reengineering and reinventing technologies that already exist on the global market, access to which the Russian Federation has lost due to sanctions in connection with its military operation in Ukraine (see Kommersant of May 26). Such a situation will ultimately become a brake on the productivity that is already lagging behind the growth of wages against the backdrop of a record reduction in unemployment and the flow of labor into the public sector (see Kommersant of April 5).

Probably, realizing this, the authorities are ready to try to open the doors to new foreign investors – the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, we recall, have prepared the promised indulgences for paying dividends to foreigners (see Kommersant of August 24). However, de facto liberalization is designed for friendly countries that are not technological leaders (with the exception of China) – in this regard, it is not possible to count on quick success.

Venera Petrova, Oleg Sapozhkov