Creating the new economy system based on knowledge is one of the urgent problems for Russia nowadays. The problems of stimulating economic growth based on innovations are discussed at the state level, the evidences of it are the approval of «The concept of long-term socioeconomic development of Russian Federation for the period ending in 2020» and formulating on its basis the innovation progress strategy, which is known by the name «Innovation Russia – 2020». Official papers define innovation activities as «performance of works or services accomplishment focused on: creating and establishing production of new goods or goods with new consumer-oriented characteristics; creating and applying the new methods of its manufacturing or modernization the existing ones; structural, financial, information etc. innovation application at production and sales of innovative products». [1] At that, the concept of innovation itself was defined in two ways. On the one hand the term “innovation” could be used for describing the process of creation the new goods, processes, markets (synonym – innovation activity), and on the other hand it could be used for describing the result of this process (synonym – innovation products). [3]

Organisational features and the strategy chosen by organisation combined with the external and internal factors of innovation environment influence on the innovation activity. At that, the current state of external innovation environment factors is characterized by innovation climate, while the internal factors are characterized by innovation potential.

Therefore, it is required to distinguish the concepts “innovation environment”, “innovation climate” and “innovation potential”. “Innovation environment is the combination of external and internal factors influencing on the innovation process participants. Internal factors of innovation environment are all the elements of innovation potential (the resources and the feasibilities of using them), which are capable of creating the new knowledge and executing the innovation commercialization process during all the innovation cycle. The external factors are all the factors of market institutional structures which are assisting the process of developing innovation and combining the national innovation system». [4]

The term “innovation climate” represents the current state of the external factors of organizational innovation environment, which are supporting or counteracting the innovation objective achievement in given period of time. [4]

Defining the priority directions of influence on the innovation activity with the purpose of increasing its effectiveness requires revelation of the factors, which are in necessity of strengthening. Indicators of factors influencing on innovation activity were associated into basic groups according to the sources of influence (pic. 1). The method allows analyzing external forces and internal reserves for stimulating innovation activity.

Picture 1 – The impact of innovation environment factors on the activity of the organisation

The innovation activity effectiveness could also be characterized by various indicators such as output of the innovative products and the innovative products export. The indicators of innovation activity effectiveness for Russian organisations show the necessity of taking the additional efforts for its stimulating. Over the period 1995 – 2008 the production of innovative goods was constantly growing, but the rate of goods, which were new to the market, even in high-tech industries, which are initially oriented on the new knowledge implementation, was no more than 0,5%. [2]

The feature causing the problems for Russian organizations nowadays lies in the fact that the share of organizations choosing the strategy of “passive” innovation adoption equaled 34,3% in 2009, which substantially excesses the same indicator in Europe (8%). [2] Innovative strategies development and using them for innovation commercialization with high level of the new knowledge implied – is the main weakness within the group of factors connected with the organisational features.

Innovation climate condition indirectly influences on innovation activity by the affection on innovation potential of organization including its intellectual resources. Over the period 2000 – 2009 the government investments in national science grew by 2.2 times in comparable prices [5], it is confirmed by growing publishing activity of Russian scientists. Rate of Russia in world number of publication in 2008 reached 2,48%. [2]

Organisational innovation potential is characterized by the R&D expenditures in private sector. In 2008 this indicator reached 62,4% of internal expenditures, and over the period 2000 – 2009 it rose steadily [2].

Thereby the weakest factors are innovation potential and the strategy of its implementation. According to the analysis of three directions of influence on innovation activity of organisation, it is possible to conclude that innovation process participants are not fully ready for the new knowledge implementation and the most challenging direction of creating innovation environment within organization is increasing the effectiveness of innovation potential development and implementation.

2. Российский инновационный индекс / Под ред. Л.М. Гохберга. – М.: Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики», 2011. – 84 с.

3. Стратегия инновационного развития Российской Федерации на период до 2020 года [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: http://www.economy.gov.ru/minec/activity/sections/innovations/ (дата обращения 25.05.2013)

4. Суслов В.И. Инновационная экономика / Рос. акад. наук, Ин-т народнохозяйств. прогнозирования, 2012. – 542 с.

5. Федеральная служба государственной статистики [Электронный ресурс]. – Режим доступа: www.gks.ru (дата обращения 14.05.2013)