Share of innovative economy in Russia must be raised by at least two-fold - minister

The share of Russia's innovative economy must grow by at least two-fold for the country to switch to an innovative path of development, Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina said in an interview with Interfax and the Vesti news channel.

"The structure of the economy is not diversified enough for now. It needs to be switched to an innovative path of development," she said.

The share of the economy that could be called innovative currently "makes up 10.5% of the entire economy if you take into account a number of sectors that aren't entirely innovative but should be innovative, such as education, science and the high-technology sector, and this share needs to be increased by at least two-fold to talk about a steady push towards an innovative economy," she said.

"The entire economic policy needs to aimed at" creating an innovative economy if this is to be achieved, she said.

Taking into account Russia's gold and forex reserves in addition to the Stabilization Fund, the country's macroeconomic stability is in good shape, she said. The number one goal under such conditions is to lower inflation. "Lower inflation in and of itself is a factor for economic growth," she said.

The second thing that needs to be done to diversify the economy and make it more innovative is to create a favorable business climate, Nabiullina said, noting that this involves "the creation of a friendly environment for innovations and the start of a new business so that there are fewer administrative barriers and so that new businesses can receive access to resources with relative ease, including land resources and financial infrastructure."

Over the last two years, Russia has seen the active evolution of development institutes and special mechanisms aimed at gradually diversifying the economy and making it more innovative, she said.

"In addition, a favorable tax environment is to be created for innovations," she said.

Nabiullina said serious efforts must be made to create an active system of support to exports for competitive companies not only working in the raw commodities sector.

Human capital is also one of the most important factors in the creation of an innovative economy, she said. Large-scale national projects aimed at "setting up human capital development institutes" have been initiated for this purpose, she said.

(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru)