Journal of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

The new issue of the Foresight and STI Governance journal (2019. vol. 13. No. 1) presents results of innovation system studies, and future scenarios for developed and emerging countries.

In their paper “Middle Innovation Trap” Jeong-Dong Lee, Chulwoo Baek, Sira Maliphol, and Jung-In Yeon analyse barriers which do not allow medium-income countries move on into the “high-income” group. The authors believe creating a “secure environment” to step up “conceptual design” capabilities through trial and error, and promoting development of human capital would provide an effective solution. A number of relevant practical steps are suggested.

Andy Hines goes beyond conventional debates about the future of the labour market which tend to focus on “professions most likely to be in demand”, and presents a scenario when there’s no need for jobs as such. His paper “Getting Ready for a Post-Work Future” describes the main drivers contributing to implementation of such a scenario, including automation, proliferation of AI technologies, changing personal values, and blurring lines between various spheres of life.

Emerging countries are not sufficiently integrated into globalisation largely due to low innovation activity of their regions. In the paper “Smart Specialization as a Tool to Foster Innovation in Emerging Economies: Lessons from Brazil” Anna Bosch and Nicholas Vonortas consider various regional smart specialisation models, their practical application in leading European countries, and the scope for applying similar approaches in emerging economies, using Brazil as an example.

Making use of synergies to build up innovation potential is the topic of the paper “The Synergy and Cycle Values in Regional Innovation Systems: The Case of Norway” by Inga Ivanova, Oivind Strand, and Loet Leydesdorff. The authors analysed this effect’s contribution to the development of the Norwegian innovation system.

Connections between economic development, technologies, and energy consumption are addressed in Vladimir Milovidov’s paper “Innovations, Sustainable Growth and Energetics: Is Leap of Civilization Possible?” The concept of saving conventional, non-renewable energy resources is important not just from environmental, but also from economic point of view. At the same time, due to the current focus on developing alternative energy resources (whose availability and efficiency are not yet comparable with hydrocarbons) this paradigm clashes with the objective of stepping up technological progress.

Voucher funding became a popular tool of the European Union’s innovation policy in recent years, applied to promote innovation activities and collaboration between small and medium enterprises and R&D organisations. The paper “Innovation Vouchers for Energy and Innovation Systems’ Transition” by Julian Schonbeck and  Manfred Spiesberger presents the results of the ener2i, project implemented with the EU support in four Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Belorussia, Georgia, and Moldova. The voucher-based scheme applied in the course of the project contributed to promoting renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency, and strengthening cooperation between businesses and the R&D sector.

New challenges to the higher education sphere are addressed in the paper “Foresight in Higher Education Institutions: Evidence from Poland” by Joanna Ejdys, Alicja Gudanowska, Katarzyna Halicka, Anna Kononiuk, Andrzej Magruk, Joanicjusz Nazarko, Lukasz Nazarko, Danuta Szpilko, Urszula Widelska. The authors analyse the new context which forces universities to radically review their strategies, and stress that foresight methodology is particularly effective for these purposes. Four different scenarios are presented, describing various way to accomplish relevant objectives while avoiding the less desirable development paths.

You can buy the latest issue of the https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/en/2019-13-1/258749820.htmland STI Governance journal in Moscow at the HSE’s own shop BookVyshka (20 Myasnitskaya St.), or subscribe to the paper edition. The electronic version is freely available at the journal’s website, online libraries e-Library and Cyberleninka, and through mobile applications available at AppStore and GooglePlay.