In modern society, the concept of "knowledge economy" has become very popular, which is mentioned both in scientific and socio-political literature. This is due to the processes of transformation of society as a whole and the economy, taking place, in particular, in the developed countries of our planet. This process can be fully observed, for example, in the United States.

What is the essence of the idea of ​​the knowledge economy? The theory of such development of the economy suggests that it is human knowledge, and not a commodity or production, that underlies the economic processes taking place in a developed society, it is knowledge that becomes the driving force behind the development of society. The knowledge economy is becoming the highest stage of development, not replacing the traditional system, but becoming its next logical stage. With the development of the knowledge economy, knowledge is a full-fledged commodity in society, it becomes one of the factors of production, and this commodity carries uniqueness.

Knowledge is a product of human mental activity, with the help of which a person learns the phenomena of the world around him. Knowledge is born, thanks to the information received from the outside. However, serving as a source for mental mental activity, information at the same time becomes a form of knowledge storage.

The active development of information technology makes it possible for the free growth of knowledge, facilitating access to it, allowing it to be widely distributed and used in various spheres of life.

Key features of the knowledge economy include:

• The preponderance of the service sector over production;
• Increasing costs for educational and scientific needs;
• Rapid growth and development of the information and communication sphere;
• Expansion of networks: corporate and personal;
• Consolidation of the economies of various countries;
• The development of innovations, expressed in the application of the results of mental intellectual activity in the creation of new goods (services).

The following innovative directions are distinguished:

• services,
• products,
• processes,
• strategies

Firms that use high technology gain a significant advantage over their competitors. They bring many times more goods to the market (offer services) at the same time, and at the same time, each new product has several unique innovations or properties. The products introduced to the market have a wider distribution geography than those of competitors, and goods are sold several times faster. While competitive firms are creating an analogue of a new model or revolutionary invention, the leading firm is already presenting the next model.

The most important factor in the development of new technologies is human capital. Leading companies in developed countries are making every effort to ensure that new technologies and new ideas are implemented and introduced to the market as soon as possible.

The development of the economy in Russia, built on knowledge, requires the reform of science, which, unfortunately, is not given much attention in principle. And it is possible to win and maintain leading positions only by attracting young people to science, presenting science as a prestigious and promising area of ​​human activity.

Without state support, the development of science becomes very difficult. What will the predominance of industry, for example, gas, be based on when mineral reserves run out? While very little attention is paid to the development of intelligent, innovative technologies, and there is no talk of leading world positions. A turning point in mass consciousness, understanding and acceptance of the fact that the wealth of a nation is in the brains, knowledge of its people, and not in the bowels of the earth, is a long process, but necessary for the further successful development of society.

In the 21st century, the level of development of the knowledge economy will be the main competitive advantage. The main resources already now for global companies are knowledge and human capital. Leading experts are working on this issue. Many countries and entire integration associations (the European Union) are sure that the knowledge economy is the best and only way to gain competitive advantages in the global market. Countries and companies are investing more and more in research and development, protection of acquired knowledge. It is believed that 90% of the knowledge of mankind has been obtained in the last thirty years, 90% of engineers, scientists and researchers trained in the entire human history are working in our time.

History of development

So far, no country has fully passed the long way to the knowledge economy. In general, the whole world is at the stage of transition to a post-industrial society, the main feature of which is a decrease in the share of production due to an increase in the share of the service sector. The average share of the service sector in the world is about 63%. Of course, there are countries with a high level of services, but only because the population is not available for employment in other sectors. For example, Afghanistan (56% - services). And this is by no means the poorest countries have a pre-industrial economy. These are mainly commodity countries. Part of the island states of Oceania generally live at the expense of donors. Many countries in Asia and Latin America are at the industrial stage. Developed countries are already at the stage of post-industrial economy and the stage of transition to the knowledge economy.

Definition

The knowledge economy is a system in which knowledge and human capital are the decisive factor and source of development. Such an economy is aimed at the production, renewal, distribution and application of knowledge. The term itself was coined by Fritz Machlup in 1962 to refer to the sector of the economy that produces, processes and manages knowledge. Closer to the 90s, the Economic Cooperation Organization began to use the term to analyze the elements of public policy. According to this organization, the knowledge economy is an economy that stimulates the acquisition, creation and dissemination of knowledge to accelerate economic and social development.

Functions

Knowledge must be distinguished from information. Knowledge is the result of human intellectual activity. Information is a source for production and a way of preserving and transmitting the result of mental activity. Knowledge in the knowledge economy is both the result of activity, and a consumer product, and a factor of production, and a product, and a means of distribution. That is, knowledge, if we take the ideal case, acts as a "raw material", which, with the help of another knowledge (production factor), is processed into new knowledge (product) and then distributed using a third type of knowledge. Of course, in other cases, knowledge can be used separately at any stage. Also important functions are the use of knowledge as a means of managing and accumulating the results of intellectual activity.

Peculiarities

When considering the new, it is important to understand the essence of the new determining factor of production. Knowledge (as a product) has a number of features that affect the process of reproduction and distribution. Any result of intellectual activity is discrete. It is believed that knowledge is either there or it is not, it cannot be divided into halves or quarters. In addition, knowledge (as a public good) is available to everyone after its creation. Although it takes time for its distribution and consumption, especially if it is a complex product. Knowledge (as an information product) does not disappear after consumption. This is different from material products.

Main features

The most developed countries of the world are gradually approaching the stage when knowledge will be the main driving force of the economy. The main features that characterize the modern knowledge economy are:

1. The dominant position of the service sector, in the developed countries of the world, the share of the service sector is already about 80%.
2. An increase in the share of spending on education and research, for example, South Korea predicts that in the near future the entire population will receive higher education.
3. The rapid growth and spread of digital technologies, information and communication industries are used to drive the knowledge economy, in everything from agriculture to medicine.
4. The universal distribution of communication networks for organizing communication between specialists, the company and customers.
5. Enlargement of markets, the creation of regional associations, more and more integration associations are being created, because it is difficult to produce many intellectual products using only the resources of one country.
6. Increasing the number and importance of innovations, the increasing use of the results of intellectual work for the production of new products.

Basis

For the development of a new stage in the organization of social production, it is necessary to create a foundation, the basis of the knowledge economy, on which it will be possible to place other elements of the new production order. There are the following fundamental elements:

• institutional structure, a system of economic incentives and public policy measures should be created to promote the production, dissemination and distribution of knowledge for the production of products;
• innovation system, it is necessary to create conditions for the reproduction and susceptibility of the economy to new technologies and new products;
• education and training, the knowledge economy system cannot be built without one of the main resources - qualified labor resources;
• information infrastructure and digital technologies are the main tools for the production of knowledge and knowledge products.

Institutional structure and education

The ability of the state to perceive innovations must be prepared by a set of measures to create an economic environment that stimulates the creation of intellectual products, a legal environment that provides protection and distribution of intellectual products. It is also important to ensure the general freedom of entrepreneurship and ease of doing business, including the absence of obstacles to starting a business, access to financing. To create an infrastructure that directly creates and disseminates new knowledge, the state creates development institutions: entrepreneurship support funds, business incubators and technology parks.

The key place in the system of the knowledge economy is occupied by human capital, which is the main factor of production. In developed countries, almost the entire population is covered by secondary education, a significant part of higher, in addition, there are systems of vocational training.

innovative system

The development of the knowledge economy directly depends on the quality of the national innovation system, which is formed on the basis of frequent public partnerships. The state, in consultation with the high-tech sector, develops and implements a policy that is as friendly as possible to innovation. It finances universities, research centers, venture capital companies that adapt global knowledge, create their own knowledge and develop new technologies and products based on the findings. Innovation support institutions are being created: investment funds to finance venture projects, co-working spaces, technology parks and high-tech industrial complexes. Private business participates together with the state in the financing and management of these innovative structures or creates their own.

Information infrastructure

The main distribution channel and tool for creating new knowledge is information and communication technologies. The main product that is reproduced in the knowledge economy is also either ICT technologies or services provided using ICT technologies. The level of development of digital technologies determines the receptivity potential of the new economic order. The pace of formation of the knowledge economy is directly dependent on the level of development of digital technologies.

Prerequisites

The countries that have entered the era of the knowledge economy are at the stage of transition to a new level, relatively few, usually the USA, Germany, South Korea and Japan are mentioned. For the transition of the state to the knowledge economy, the conditions for such a transformation must be ripe. First of all, knowledge should be perceived by the economy as the most important resource, more important than other resources (natural, labor, financial). An avalanche-like growth in the share of information technologies is superimposed on the high share of the service sector of the post-industrial society. There is an increase in investment in human capital, especially in specialization and training. Because more qualified personnel are needed to produce knowledge. Information and communication technologies penetrate into the fields of activity. If we take an industry such as the automotive industry, then almost all leading companies have already developed prototypes of unmanned vehicles that are controlled by artificial intelligence. At the same time, ICT is responsible not only for transport management, but can even maintain a conversation with the passenger. In the knowledge economy, the role of innovation is decisive; it is a factor and a source of development.

How to measure

The methodology for measuring how ready a country is for the transition to a new economic model was developed by the World Bank as part of the Knowledge for Development program. The calculation is based on 109 indicators, which are then formed into two indices:

1. The Knowledge Index measures the extent to which a country can produce, receive, and disseminate knowledge. The indicator takes into account the country's opportunities in the field of education and labor resources, the volume of innovation activity and the development of information and communication technologies.
2. The knowledge economy index shows how a country is able to use knowledge for social development and economic growth. And it also determines how close or far a country is from the knowledge economy.

The bank's research has shown a direct correlation between the level of a country's readiness for the knowledge economy, the ability to grow economically, and competitiveness in the global market.

Innovation

The knowledge economy must constantly reproduce innovations, turning new knowledge into goods and services. That is, it is the economy of new knowledge. Innovation is knowledge turned into a commodity ready for promotion to the markets. Thus, knowledge is associated with effective demand and feedback is organized between the global market and the sphere of knowledge production. By the degree of innovativeness of the economy, one can say how much the country is immersed in the knowledge economy. Innovative development provides a competitive advantage: new products are developed and brought to market faster, more new technological solutions are used, high-tech products cost more and sell faster. In the ratings of the most innovative economies in the world, South Korea, Sweden, and Germany occupy the first places.

Almost a knowledge economy

South Korea has been recognized as the most innovative in the Bloomberg rating for the third year in a row The country ranks first in the world in terms of research and development spending, patents received and high-tech industries, the second in terms of education The country has the Ministry of Economy and Knowledge, which is responsible for economic and investment policy. The largest companies are aimed at selling their accumulated knowledge, each of the firms has divisions that are engaged in the development of information and communication technologies and the sale of accumulated experience. For example, the largest steel company POSCO, having gained experience in the production of metal, began to offer services for the construction of metallurgical plants. After automating its production, it sells IT solutions and also sells management solutions. The main efforts of the country are aimed at reforming the structure of the knowledge economy, increasing the levels of use of critical technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence, the level of robotization (the country is still in first place in the world), unmanned aerial vehicles, cars, ships, financial services using IT .

The term "knowledge economy" was introduced into scientific circulation by the Austro-American scientist Fritz Machlup (1962) as applied to one of the sectors of the economy. Now this term, along with the term "knowledge-based economy", is used to define the type of economy in which knowledge plays a decisive role, and the production of knowledge is a source of growth. The widely used concepts of "innovative economy", "high-tech civilization", "knowledge society", "information society" are close to the concept of "knowledge economy".

At present, investments in knowledge are growing faster than investments in fixed assets: in the countries - members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the 90s - by an average of 3.4% per year against 2.2%. Of the total amount of knowledge measured in physical units that mankind has, 90% has been obtained over the past 30 years, just like 90% of the total number of scientists and engineers trained in the entire history of civilization are our contemporaries. These are the most obvious signs of the transition from an economy based on the use of natural resources to a knowledge-based economy.

However, the question of whether the knowledge economy is a new era of social development that has replaced the agrarian and industrial eras remains debatable. A number of experts believe that the knowledge economy is significantly different from the industrial-type economy, when the accumulation of wealth was associated with tangible assets. According to others, this is just the next phase of the industrial age, wealth is still determined by production processes, and intangible assets increase competitiveness, nothing more.

One way or another, knowledge is a serious thing, it turns the economic picture of the world upside down. Here are some examples. Everyone knows the electronic game "Tetris". It was invented by Pajitnov, a programmer at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences, and she personally brought him $15,000. Computing Center by selling the rights to distribute the game to Nimtanda. received $4 million, while the firm received over $1 billion. Another example is the famous Microsoft firm. Its market value is estimated at $350-400 billion, its profit value is $50-70 billion, and its accounting value is only $510 billion. Russia is only just entering this area, but we also have examples of high-tech the share of knowledge prevails. The market value of the Russian firm Paragraph International is $40 million with a book value of $1 million.

MEASURING THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

The science that studies the economy of knowledge is going through a period of accumulation of information, gradually moving to its primary processing. The problem lies in the selection and proper systematization of a huge amount of data.

The measurement of knowledge is methodologically a very subtle thing, since knowledge is a product, on the one hand, private, which can be appropriated, and on the other, a public product that belongs to everyone. Therefore, there are two approaches to measuring knowledge: by the cost of its production and by the market value of the sold knowledge. Costs include R&D, higher education, software. According to this indicator, Russia lags far behind the United States and the OECD countries.

As is known, at the present stage of the development of human civilization, the indicator of gross domestic product (GDP) is most often used as an integral indicator of economic development. It is based on the idea that the right product is the one that someone bought. The price at which a product is purchased is the true measure of its usefulness. The act of sale is fundamental. GDP shows how many products society needs produced in a certain period of time.

However, this approach fails on products. which are called public (public) goods, because they are consumed free of charge or at prices that do not correspond to their real value to a person. Therefore, the production and consumption of public goods is reflected in GDP (and the system of national accounts) not by the act of purchase, but by the costs incurred, which fundamentally contradicts the idea underlying the measurement of economic performance.

Knowledge, at least a significant part of it, is a public good. Measuring their value in terms of costs gives a distorted picture: the state's spending on science is by no means the cost of knowledge produced. So, we need to learn how to measure the demand for knowledge.

For knowledge as a public good, the act of recognition consists in its use in one form or another. The degree of its use can be different: an appeal to it, a request; acquaintance with it; memorization, the ability to reproduce it and transfer it to another; finally, the production of new knowledge on the basis of the used one. The act of consuming knowledge consists, at a minimum, in making a request. The request is a manifestation of interest, readiness for more detailed "consumption".

Demand, and only demand, determines whether knowledge lives on or not. As sad as it may be, there is not the slightest doubt that a huge number of ideas, discoveries, inventions and other knowledge produced by people disappeared without really being born. The same can be said about the potential geniuses of mankind.

Experiments carried out on a computer model that simulates the actions of participants in the knowledge economy show that its effectiveness implies the observance of some optimal ratio between all categories of actors. The amount of knowledge is assumed to be equal to the number of people who have consumed all types of knowledge in total. Thus, the knowledge economy gives the greater the volume of production, on the one hand, more knowledge is created by scientists, and, on the other hand, the more people consume this knowledge. That is, both the work of scientists and the work of people who bring knowledge to the end user are important. What is the optimal ratio between them can be established experimentally.

At present, special attention is beginning to be paid to human capital, the creation of such an infrastructure that would allow the use of accumulated experience and knowledge in production and consumption. In accordance with these tasks, as well as for the study of new processes and phenomena, a system of indicators is being formed that reflects the level of development of the sector of increased demand for knowledge and the knowledge-based economy as a whole. As a positive example, we can cite the system of indicators proposed by the OECD, which makes it possible to compare the level and dynamics of development of the member countries of this organization. As part of this system, the following groups of indicators can be distinguished:

development of the high-tech sector of the economy, its share in manufacturing products and services; innovative activity;

The amount of investment in the knowledge sector (public and private), including spending on higher education, research and development, and software development (now spending on these purposes in OECD countries averages 4.7% of GDP, and taking into account all levels of education - over 10%);

Development and production of information and communication equipment, software products and services (investments in infocommunication products and technologies increased from 15% of investments in production in the early 1980s to 35% in 1999, and investments in software (SW) amounted to 25-40% of the contribution of the infocommunication sector to the growth of investments in general);

Growth in the number of people employed in the field of science and high technology (in 1999, there were about 38 million people in the OECD countries, 25% of the labor force employed in highly skilled labor in this area);

The volume and structure of venture capital, which still remains the main source of financing for new high-tech firms (its share in the second half of the 1990s was 0.21% of GDP in the US and 0.16% of GDP in Canada and the Netherlands);

Participation of private capital in the financing of R&D (in most OECD countries, its share increased in the 1990s, in particular, in the EEC countries from 52% to 55%, in the USA from 57% to 67%);

The structure of R&D spending by stage of research (in most countries, spending on basic research has increased compared to 1980 both in absolute and relative terms) and by direction (in OECD countries, the share of spending on military R&D has decreased, while how the share of spending on R&D in the field of health care, biotechnology and infocommunication technologies has increased);

Cross-country knowledge flows, as well as international cooperation in the field of science and innovation (in the mid-1990s in the OECD countries, 27% of scientific publications were international);

Strengthening cooperation between firms, research organizations and universities;

Cross-country exchange of the results of inventive activity (14% of the patents obtained in the OECD countries were acquired by foreign residents, while the OECD countries acquired about 15% of the patents obtained abroad);

Mobility of scientists and engineers, especially highly qualified, as well as students leaving to study in the USA, England, Germany and other countries (more than 10% of students in England are foreigners);

Increasing the volume of financial transactions, including foreign direct investment flows;

The spread of infocommunication technologies, the widespread use of personal computers, which determines the contribution of the infocommunication sector to the growth in the number of jobs and employment (in 2000, in Sweden, personal computers were available in 60% of households, in Denmark - in 65%; in the same countries, more than half of the adult population uses the Internet, respectively, 68% and 62%);

The share of high-tech manufacturing industries and high-tech services (the share of gross value added of high- and medium-level high-tech industries in GDP in the late 1990s was especially high in Ireland - over 16%, South Korea - 12.6%, Germany - 11.7% and Japan -10.7%);

The level of development of market services with an increased demand for knowledge (in OECD countries - about 18% of GDP, and together with non-market services - education and healthcare - about 29%);

The increase in the share of high-tech products in the exchange of goods between countries, the positive balance of the leading countries in the trade in high-tech products;

Acceleration of patenting the results of new developments and inventions in the field of high technologies.

The knowledge-based economy can be characterized in two ways. First, from the input side, that is, based on an assessment of the total amount of costs (total investments) for the development of its basic sector, in which new knowledge is generated and disseminated; secondly, from the output side, that is, evaluating the contribution by the gross value added of industries that mainly consume new knowledge; here it is possible to consider several concentric, gradually expanding areas: from the so-called high-tech industries of the highest level (high technologies) or leading high technologies (leading edge), including also defense industries, to medium high technologies and then to the sphere of high-tech services; in an expanded interpretation of the sector of increased demand for new knowledge and technologies, education and health care, and sometimes culture and management, are additionally taken into account.

An assessment of the relevant indicators allows us to calculate the following most important indicators: the level of support for the knowledge sector, determined relative to the world level or the level of the most advanced countries; the level of use of knowledge in the Russian economy, also determined relative to the world level or the level of advanced countries; balanced development of the knowledge economy. By comparing the input costs, that is, for scientific research and education, and the resulting effect at the output, that is, the contribution of knowledge consumers - industries with an increased demand for knowledge in GDP, it is possible to assess the balance in the development of the knowledge economy. The balance indicator should be within certain limits: not be excessively low (in this case, the costs of production and dissemination of knowledge are inefficient) or too high (the latter indicates that the country either has an undeveloped R&D and education sector, or does not allocate resources for their development, and the previously accumulated scientific potential is exploited, which is now observed in Russia). The ratio between indicators of different levels at the output makes it possible to assess the internal balance of the sector of industries with an increased demand for knowledge.

Consider the estimates of specific indicators. The transition to a knowledge-based economy is associated with an increase in total investment in the relevant sector. As already mentioned, at present, the amount of funding for this area is calculated as the sum of expenditures on R&D, higher education (from private and public sources) and software. However, when these three components are directly summed, the estimate is overestimated due to double counting: software expenditures are included in R&D and education expenditures, while R&D and education expenditures overlap. Therefore, a part of software spending is usually considered not as an investment, but as a consumption (purchase of software packages by households and operational services in firms) and is excluded, together with spending on software during R&D, from the total spending on software products (spending on software in education is not allocated from due to the difficulty of assessing them).

As applied to Russia, where knowledge sector research is just beginning and where it is difficult due to the complexities of the transition period and the weakening of the state accountability system, unadjusted, somewhat overestimated estimates can be used. So far, due to the widespread distribution of imported software, as a rule, "pirated products", the errors, apparently, are not very large.

Comparison of data on the input costs of the knowledge sector in the OECD countries and Russia for two options for choosing industries (only higher education and all levels of education) shows that, relative to GDP, we allocate 3 times less resources in the first case, and 2.1 times less resources in the second than the average in these countries (Table 1). In comparison with the USA, Sweden, South Korea, Russia loses even more.

As follows from the data in Table 2, in the late 1990s, the highest share of the value added of high-tech industries of the upper and middle levels in GDP was in Germany (11.7%) and Switzerland (11.5%), taking into account telecommunications, financial, insurance and business services. , including R&D - in Germany (31.0%), USA (30.0%), Great Britain (28.1%), and finally, taking into account education and healthcare, the total share of gross value added in GDP may exceed 40%. Thus, in terms of the use of knowledge, Europe is ahead of the United States. As for Russia, one should pay attention to the fact that, despite a significant decline in the industry, the situation in the field of high technologies is noticeably better than in a wider range of industries.

Finally, the calculation of the balance indicators for the development of the knowledge economy, as well as the internal balance of the sector of industries with an increased demand for knowledge, shows that here Russia lags far behind developed countries and is close in level to Mexico: the sector of high-tech, financial and other types of services is poorly developed, R&D costs low. On average, the indicators of internal balance for Russia are worse than those of the most developed countries by about 30%.

The ratio between the input and output indicators confirms that the work of those employed in science and education is currently underestimated in the country, the financing of these industries is approaching the level of countries with low scientific, technical and educational potential.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

The knowledge economy has three fundamental features. First - discreteness of knowledge as a product. Concrete knowledge is either created or not. There cannot be half or one-third knowledge. The second feature is that knowledge, like other public (public) goods, being created, available everyone without exception. And finally, the third feature of knowledge: by its nature, it information product, and information, once consumed, does not disappear like an ordinary material product.

The discrete property of knowledge raised doubts that, when applied to it, the market mechanism could be as effective as in the case of traditional products. Recent work shows that the main results obtained for divisible products, under fairly general and realistic conditions, turn out to be true also for discrete products such as knowledge or large investment projects.

The second and third features have as a consequence that in a market economy the disseminators of knowledge find themselves in a peculiar, in a sense, monopoly position. Whatever price they charge for their product, it is impossible to sell the maximum number of "copies of knowledge". The desire to sell more is quite natural, especially since a copy costs practically nothing (copying costs are extremely small). If you set a high price, there will be few buyers. At a low price, there will be many buyers, but the revenue may be less than at a high price. A number of works show that in the knowledge economy the traditional market mechanism does not lead to efficient states. Efficiency is achieved when so-called discriminatory prices are used, that is, prices calculated for a specific consumer (category of consumers).

The use of discriminatory prices requires more professionalism than the use of regular prices. Discrimination must be properly introduced. Experience in the market provision of products such as knowledge and information is gradually accumulating in different countries for different types of products. Discriminatory prices are especially prevalent in the market for statistical information and software. I note that in the traditional economy, discriminatory prices were condemned (J. Robinson) and even prohibited by law, since they are a way for monopolies to get super profits.

As you know, in a standard perfect market, competition drives prices down to marginal cost. In the knowledge market, prices are higher than marginal cost. Pricing in the software market demonstrates how subtle this mechanism can be. The seller of programs, trying to get the maximum profit, is forced to provide the maximum number of users with his products. The system of discrimination by the time of purchase, by the legal status of the buyer (commercial firm, government structure, university, church), the complication of the product itself (program versions, upgrade system, subscription, package services) ultimately lead to the maximum satisfaction of knowledge and information needs. At the same time, the problem of high-quality provision of goods is also solved, that is, the distribution of pirated copies is eradicated by the economic method. However, the issue of pirated copies remains controversial. Some consumers prefer lower quality but cheaper copies. The existence of an illegal business of selling pirated copies objectively leads to a wider dissemination of knowledge and information, thereby better satisfying consumer demand. Apparently, the development of this market is still at the stage when the presence of the illegal sector is positive. In the process of market improvement, this sector will shrink and in the future will come to naught, as its functioning will become inefficient.

An extremely broad and at the same time subtle tool for regulating property relations in the sphere of the so-called intangible goods, which include knowledge, is Copyright. Along with legally regulated, there is also the so-called informal copyright. The world scientific community is closely monitoring that it is not violated.

The theft of scientific results is strictly condemned, no matter how veiled it may be. In this context, copyright is closely related to the concept reputation. Reputation in the scientific field is somewhat akin to the production capacity of an enterprise, although, of course, it is a more complex and multifaceted concept. Reputation receives a market value, in particular, in the form of the salary level of a scientist, as well as the demand for his work.

The listed features of the knowledge economy determine its significant differences from the standard market economy in terms of existing laws and mechanisms. And this makes it difficult to build a theory.

An important circumstance: the knowledge economy is inseparable triad of markets- knowledge market, service market and labor market. They cannot be considered in isolation, they interact so closely with each other, from which many consequences follow and which should be realized by people who make decisions in this area.

Now the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual property is being prepared. I must say that the President directly pointed out the need to consider the entire problem as a whole. However, now a big obstacle is the interaction of government bodies: it is necessary that the Ministry of Industry and Science, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labor, the Academy of Sciences, and even the Ministry of Internal Affairs work in unison.

In this context, it is impossible not to mention the so-called inseparable or implicit knowledge(tacit knowledge). This is a very subtle concept: we are talking about the knowledge that cannot be separated from its bearer - an individual or a scientific, design, production team. There is an opinion that the share of accumulated inseparable knowledge among Russians is higher than among representatives of other countries, and this can become our competitive advantage. But collectives are easy to destroy. And now we are witnessing the collapse of outstanding teams that created, for example, large weapons systems. This destroys inseparable knowledge that is potentially worth billions of dollars.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

In modern society, it is necessary to achieve an understanding that the knowledge sector is a problem-solving machine. The flow of problems is diverse and intense, so the organization of the knowledge sector that meets this challenge must be flexible, dynamic, and be precisely an economy. But then you need a special type of specialist, the so-called innovation manager. He must feel the breakthrough direction in his gut.

There are already people who become millionaires, even billionaires, working in this area, but not yet with us. This profession is in its infancy here.

Fullerenes can be cited as an example of a breakthrough direction. Although the Nobel Prize was not awarded to us, but 7% of the world's flow of publications in the field of fullerenes are Russian, with the Academy of Sciences making the main contribution. This direction promises a lot. But we need innovative managers who know how to turn fundamental knowledge into money.

However, it should be taken into account that the epoch of the economy based on knowledge corresponds to a different social structure compared to the usual one. We are accustomed to the division of labor between producers and consumers of knowledge with the participation of an intermediary. Now there is a new system in which the consumer of knowledge participates in its creation. The market for products (knowledge) is being replaced by a market for services. And this implies a different institutional environment, the creation around large companies of numerous small innovative firms that receive orders from the "parent" company. This is how most American giants operate, such as General Motors, which invests tens of billions of dollars in research and development.

In Russia, unfortunately, this is not yet the case. The largest Russian companies should be players in the knowledge economy, create a new environment, a symbiosis of knowledge production and consumption. This will ensure the demand for knowledge. And here the role of the state is crucial. Without the participation of the state, the demand for knowledge cannot be organized.

Considering this emerging new situation, the Russian Academy of Sciences should also draw certain conclusions for itself. After all, you can consider our academy as a kind of large company. It, too, should be surrounded by small innovative firms that will create demand. New forms of management in institutes are also needed, the division of the director's functions into the functions of a scientific supervisor and an executive director, as is customary in many Western countries, the organization of departments that would be engaged in making money, is ripe.

The giant market resource of the Academy of Sciences is its reputation. The authorities who finance it must understand this. In the knowledge economy, payment for reputation is already an axiom.

* * * In conclusion, I would like to say about the main lessons of the formation of a knowledge-based economy for Russia. First of all, it is the need to change the mass consciousness. We need to convince people that wealth is in the brain, not in the depths. Although our people have a very strong belief that we are a rich country, because we have plenty of oil, gas, fresh water, finally. We must explain that we will not live with dignity until we learn how to sell knowledge.

The knowledge economy as an innovation system

Gozhenko Konstantin Nikolaevna

Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Management

NOU VPO "Kislovodsk Institute of Economics and Law"

Annotation: the article discusses the innovative characteristics of the knowledge economy.

Keywords: knowledge economy, innovative technologies, modern economic theory.

Abstract: We consider its innovative features of the knowledge economy.

keywords: economics of knowledge, innovative technology, modern economic theory.

The modern economy reflects the profound changes taking place in public life and transforming the basic forms of society, its main economic characteristics, the essence of social production, trade, and employment. The parameters of the economic system in the coming period will be very different from previous periods.

In the agrarian economy, land was the key production resource. In an industrial economy, the main resources were labor and industrial factors of production. In the knowledge economy, the status of a key resource passes to knowledge.

In a theoretical aspect, the "knowledge economy" is a mode of production in which the generation, use and dissemination of knowledge play a dominant role in the creation of material, material and intellectual wealth, as well as generally recognized social values.

The knowledge economy does not just mean reaching new frontiers of knowledge, in fact, such an economy means the formation of a new mode of production - an increase in the efficiency of the economy through the rational and systematic use of all types and types of knowledge in all areas of economic activity.

The use of knowledge is not a new idea, knowledge has always played an important role in the economy. However, all forms of economics preceding the "knowledge economy" were based on "simple" ("directly productive") knowledge.

The economic importance of the use of knowledge has increased since the era since the industrial revolution. But the degree of inclusion of knowledge and
information into economic activity has now increased so much that it leads to irreversible structural and qualitative changes in the mechanism of the functioning of the economy and the transformation of the quality of production, which for a long time was the basis of the competitive advantage of this national economy.

As an innovative model of the sphere of educational services in the knowledge economy, a number of economists put forward the so-called "triple helix model" between universities, industry and the state, which can be interpreted as a movement from the neo-institutional structure of social networks to the neo-evolutionary model of organizing economic relations.

The deep economic meaning of the innovative transformation of the system of special education in the conditions of the knowledge economy lies in the optimal connection of the three above-mentioned areas - university, industrial and government environment. Such unity is possible only on the basis of overcoming the fragmentation of the spheres of the creation of material wealth, the production of knowledge and legislation as social regulation, the unity that only the knowledge economy can provide.

Thus, the triple helix model allows us to single out the knowledge sector as a basic element of the knowledge economy, which is complemented by an industrial and regulatory element. Accordingly, the problem of optimizing and harmonizing the interaction of three fundamentally different mechanisms of functioning, which are inherent in each of these sectors, arises.

The production of knowledge requires the highest degree of deregulation of the management process of obtaining new knowledge; it can be organized only in liberal and democratic forms of constructing a creative process.

Post-industrial production already requires greater regulation and orderliness, although market moments - in the form of competition - inevitably introduce elements of spontaneity, unpredictability and liberalism.

As for the sphere of social management, it is characterized by the highest degree of regulation and directiveness.

A post-industrial society is a society in which the decline in industrial production occurs not as a result of an economic crisis, recession or stagnation, but as a result of the outstripping growth of the service sector, which develops into the growth of the information sector as the basis for the emergence of a knowledge economy. The economic structure of the population's employment is already dominated by trends in the excess of the total number of people employed in non-productive sectors (transport and communications, trade, education, and the financial sector) over industries and agriculture.

In the knowledge economy - and practice clearly shows this - it is universities, due to their universality, that become the main institution of the new society. If in an industrial society the main subject of the economy was an industrial enterprise, and the dominant result of production was represented by some material (commodity) value, in a post-industrial society the main subject of the economy is the information and communication center, and the dominant result of production is information and communication technologies, then in the knowledge economy the university will be the main subject, and some scientific and technical knowledge will be the dominant result of production. In the new economy, the bulk of the total labor force is represented by employment not in the field of material production or in the distribution of material goods, but in the design, development, technology, marketing, sale and service of this knowledge. In an economy in which ideas, information, knowledge form the basis of innovation and economic growth, a constant flow of information dominates there, as well as the powerful potential of science and technology.

The main problem of the knowledge economy is a new mechanism of its movement, which faces a specific problem - the problem of information asymmetry, which cannot be completely solved by information and communication technologies of any complexity.

Other problems of the knowledge economy should be considered - institutional ways of organizing the production and dissemination of knowledge, protection of intellectual property in the new economy, increased competition, lack of security of creative work and the necessary flexibility.

The theoretical content of the knowledge economy can be seen in the fact that one model of capitalism (under the guise of technological determinism) acquires a different appearance, more in line with the pressing needs of modernity.

The structural transformation of production in the knowledge economy leads to the fact that here the so-called “knowledge production sector” (represented by the main subject – the university, the innovation and educational center), as well as active providers of this knowledge, becomes the main element. A kind of "intangible capital" appears, which exceeds the amount of investments concentrated within the framework of "tangible capital" and becomes a priority object of increasing investment flows. Technological progress is increasingly shifting towards intangible assets.

At the same time, both the average level of education of the population and its general cultural and technical level are rising.

Thus, the formation of the knowledge economy is a process of consistent implementation of the two parallel trends mentioned above. Changes in the factors of production are accompanied by changes in the structure of production. Structural changes have been taking place in developed countries since the beginning of the 1970s, which led to productive activities mainly based on the creation, use and dissemination of new knowledge. So-called "intensive technologies" are emerging, such as electronics, computers, telecommunications and biotechnology, which are growing much faster than traditional industries. The expansion of knowledge leads, in turn, to the diffusion of technology for creating new knowledge with the technology of information transfer, as well as communication technologies, software equipment, the Internet, and telecommunications.

As a result, industries producing information and communication technologies are becoming increasingly important in the production structure of innovatively developed national economies. The investments of companies that increase the share of information and communication technologies in their corporate capital ensure that their production becomes more and more intensive precisely in the field of information technology, technical changes and labor productivity. This leads to the fact that such technologies not only spread rapidly, but also to the fact that they become the “engines” of the overall economic growth for a given country.

For economic science, the advent of information and communication technologies has become a signal of the actualization of the problems of theoretical analysis of "intangible capital" (intangible assets), since it is precisely such capital that forms the material basis for the production of knowledge, the development of science, the dissemination of technical skills, and also the improvement of the quality of human capital. But the results of the knowledge economy need to be rethought both in terms of traditional property rights and the competitive mechanism for their use.

Since knowledge by its nature is not an object of separate use on the basis of exclusive property rights, the same knowledge can be used by a number of economic agents, which in no way reduces the productive potential that they provide to each user. Knowledge has the characteristic that its production is limited in the main to a fixed cost. Therefore, the marginal cost of storage becomes smaller over time, and this makes the processing and transmission of information much easier and cheaper.

At the same time, the knowledge economy maintains a division of functions between organizations that produce new knowledge (mainly universities and specialized research centers) and those organizations that apply it. The latter are particularly interested in expanding their own knowledge production base to increase their own competitiveness (direct effect) and expand the ability to search for knowledge produced outside their enterprise (indirect effect).

The noted trends have an impact on the protection of knowledge in the field of intellectual property, which is especially important not only for firms, but also for entire states. There is a marked increase in the scope for patenting software (based on case law).

The knowledge economy forms a new type of primary production link, which have characteristics so unusual for the industrial stage of production that it is difficult to provide them with finance from traditional financial sources and through traditional financial intermediaries. As a rule, these are firms operating in new markets, there is uncertainty about the technical difficulties of trading operations, the development of start-ups requires the presence of significant venture capital, and industrial innovations require the cost of additional organizational and institutional innovations.

The economy of knowledge and the organization of labor, production, stimulation of the labor activity of workers, their association and collectivism are changing, disunity comes to replace it, reviving the principle of “scattered manufactory”. Flexible production organizations are designed to replace "Taylorist" models. Such flexible models are inherent in:

Reducing the importance of participation of employees in the corporatization of the enterprise,

Horizontal dissemination of information,

Active participation of employees in improving productivity and quality of work.

The lower cost of processing information for new projects will encourage the transfer of official authority (with final decision) to the lowest hierarchical levels. Advances in mass and ongoing control technology make it possible to control the efforts of an increasing number of workers, reducing the size and prerogatives of intermediate hierarchies.

At the same time, the reorganization and reconfiguration of research structures leads to lower costs and the development of outsourcing. And this creates conditions for the formation of new types of services for the coordination and control of work through local networks and the production of intermediate products.

In the knowledge economy, two types of capital become decisive - human capital and intangible information and communication capital.

A significant difference in the market organization of the knowledge economy is introduced by the network model of the market, in particular, the traditional phenomenon of a typical organization of markets in which the exchange has an “anonymous” nature, covering the uncertainty of the price, is inferior, thanks to information and communication technologies, to complete information about customers and actual ( or potential) suppliers. The same methods allow firms to get rid of the restrictions imposed by the hierarchical organization.

The knowledge-based economy involves major changes
in corporate organization. Due to the increasing complexity in managing the body of knowledge that can directly or indirectly affect the performance of the firm, the latter tends to specialize in accordance with those knowledge and skills that dominate and which will allow it to maintain its competitive position.

See for example: Loet Leydesdorff & Martin Meyer. The Triple Helix Model and the Knowledge-Based Economy // Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam. Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands;

V. L. Makarov - Academician, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Needless to say, Russia is rich in natural resources, mineral reserves - everyone knows about it. But its real wealth is people, their intelligence, knowledge and experience. Outside of Russia, they have long understood what is the truly inexhaustible source of our wealth. As before, many young scientists are trying to go to the West. And the reason for this is not always money. Often there is no necessary equipment in laboratories, conditions for work. How to fix the situation? First of all, it is necessary to learn how to evaluate knowledge correctly, as it is done in all developed countries. Valery Leonidovich Makarov - Academician, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the general meeting of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation devoted a report to the problems of the knowledge economy. The text of the report is published in the next issue of the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and we offer its extended abstract to the readers of the journal Science and Life.

Whoever gets an idea from me
uses it without impoverishing me,
just as one who received the light
from my lamp does not immerse
me into darkness.
Thomas Jefferson

Academician V. L. Makarov.

Science and life // Illustrations

Science and life // Illustrations

COUNTRY COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BASED ON PRIMARY INDICATORS

Groups of indicators reflecting the level of development of increased demand for knowledge (proposed by OECD)

Contribution of industries with increased demand for knowledge to GDP (share of value added in GDP), %

The term "knowledge economy" (or "knowledge-based economy") was coined by Fritz Machlup in 1962, meaning simply a sector of the economy. Now this term is used to define the type of economy where knowledge plays a decisive role, and the production of knowledge becomes a source of growth.

Today, investment in knowledge is growing faster than investment in fixed assets. 90% of the total amount of knowledge that mankind has has been obtained in the last 30 years, just as 90% of the total number of scientists and engineers trained in the entire history of civilization are our contemporaries. And these are clear signs of a transition from an economy based on the use of natural resources to a knowledge economy.

Some experts believe that the knowledge economy is a new stage in social development. One way or another, knowledge is a serious thing; it overturns the economic picture of the world. Here are some examples. Everyone knows the electronic game "Tetris". It was invented by Aleksey Pajitnov, a programmer at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences (and he did not spend much time on it). The game brought him personally 15 thousand dollars. Computing center, having sold distribution rights to the company "Nintendo", received 4 million dollars, the company - from the distribution of the manufacture of the game - more than 1 billion dollars. Another example is the famous firm "Microsoft". Its market value is estimated at $350-400 billion, its profit value is $50-70 billion, and its accounting value is only $5-10 billion. than it is valued on the market.) Unfortunately, the attitude of most Russian enterprises is not in favor of market value. But even in Russia there are examples of high-tech business, where the share of knowledge prevails. The market value of the Russian firm Paragraph International is $40 million with a book value of $1 million.

MEASURING THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Knowledge is a product, on the one hand, a private one that can be appropriated, and on the other, a public product that belongs to everyone. Therefore, knowledge is measured by the cost of its production and by the market value of the sold knowledge. Costs include R&D, higher education, software. According to this indicator, Russia lags far behind the most developed countries.

Today, the indicator of gross domestic product (GDP) is most often used as an integral indicator of economic development. It is based on the idea that the right product is the one that someone bought. The price at which a product is purchased is the true measure of its usefulness. Here the act of sale is fundamental.

Public (public) goods are consumed free of charge or at prices that do not correspond to their real value for a person. Therefore, the production and consumption of public goods are reflected in GDP (and the system of national accounts) not by the act of purchase, but by the costs incurred, which fundamentally contradicts the idea underlying the measurement of economic performance.

Knowledge, at least a significant part of it, is a public good, moreover, not even a national but an international public good. Measuring their value in terms of costs gives a distorted picture: the state's spending on science is by no means the cost of knowledge produced. So, we need to learn how to measure the demand for knowledge.

For knowledge as a public good, the act of recognition consists in its use in one form or another. The degree of its use can be different: from addressing it to the production of new knowledge on the basis of the used one.

Demand, and only demand, determines whether knowledge lives on or not. Unfortunately, a huge number of ideas, discoveries, inventions and other knowledge produced by people disappeared without really being born. The same can be said about the potential geniuses of mankind.

Experiments carried out on a computer model that simulates the actions of participants in the knowledge economy show that its effectiveness implies the observance of some optimal ratio between all categories of actors. The amount of knowledge is assumed to be equal to the number of people who have consumed all types of knowledge in total. In other words, the number of people who have studied Einstein's theory of relativity adds up to the number of people who have read the Napoleon cake recipe. The knowledge economy gives the greater the volume of production, on the one hand, more knowledge is created and, on the other hand, the more people consume this knowledge. That is, both the work of scientists and the work of people who bring knowledge to the end user are important. What is the optimal ratio between them can be established experimentally.

For the effective use of accumulated experience and knowledge in production and consumption, as well as for the study of new processes and phenomena, a system of indicators is needed that reflects the level of development of the sector of increased demand for knowledge and the knowledge-based economy as a whole. As a positive example, we can cite the system of indicators proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes certain groups of indicators.

The knowledge-based economy can be characterized in two ways. First, from the input side, that is, based on an assessment of the total amount of costs (total investments) for the development of its basic sector, in which new knowledge is generated and disseminated (education and R&D - research and development work); secondly, from the output side, that is, estimating the contribution in terms of gross value added of industries that mainly consume new knowledge: from the so-called top-level high-tech industries or leading high-tech industries, which also include defense industries, to mid-level high-tech and high-tech services. With an expanded interpretation of the sector of increased demand for new knowledge and technologies, education and health care, and sometimes culture and management, are additionally taken into account.

According to the estimates of the relevant indicators, it is possible to calculate the levels of support for the knowledge sector and its use in the Russian economy, determined relative to the world level or the level of advanced countries. By comparing the input costs, that is, for research and education, and the resulting effect at the output, that is, the contribution of knowledge consumers - industries with increased demand for knowledge to GDP, it is possible to assess the balance in the development of the knowledge economy. This indicator should not be excessively low (in this case, the costs of production and dissemination of knowledge are inefficient) or too high (the latter indicates that the country either has not developed R&D and education, or does not allocate resources for their development, but exploits the accumulated previously scientific potential, which is now observed in Russia). In addition, the ratio between indicators of different levels at the output makes it possible to assess the internal balance of the sector of industries with an increased demand for knowledge.

Comparison of data on the input costs of the knowledge sector in the OECD countries and Russia for two options for choosing industries (either higher education or all levels of education) shows that we have 3 times relative to GDP in the first case, and 2 times in the second, 1 times less resources than the average in OECD countries. Compared to the United States, Sweden, South Korea, Russia loses even more.

The ratio between the input and output indicators confirms that at present in our country the work of those employed in science and education is underestimated, the financing of these industries is approaching the level of countries with low scientific, technical and educational potential.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

The knowledge economy has three fundamental features. The first is the discreteness of knowledge as a product. Concrete knowledge is either created or not. There cannot be half or one-third knowledge. The second feature is that knowledge, like other public (public) goods, once created, is available to everyone without exception. And, finally, the third feature of knowledge: by its nature, it is an information product, and information, after it has been consumed, does not disappear like an ordinary material product.

There were doubts that, when applied to knowledge (as a discrete product), the market mechanism could be as effective as in the case of traditional products. Recent studies show that the main results obtained for divisible products, under sufficiently general and realistic conditions, turn out to be true for discrete products as well.

As a consequence of the second and third features in a market economy, the disseminators of knowledge find themselves in a peculiar, in a sense, monopoly position. Whatever price they charge for their product, it is impossible to sell the maximum number of "copies of knowledge". The desire to sell more is quite natural, especially since a copy costs practically nothing - the cost of copying is extremely small. If you set a high price, there will be few buyers. At a low price, there will be many buyers, but the revenue may be less than at a high price. In the knowledge economy, the traditional market mechanism is inefficient. Efficiency is achieved when the so-called discriminatory prices, that is, prices calculated for a particular consumer.

Discriminatory prices are especially prevalent in the market for statistical information and software. As follows from history, in the traditional economy, discriminatory prices were condemned (J. Robinson) and even prohibited by law (the "Sherman Act" in the USA), since they are a way for monopolies to get super profits.

In a standard perfect market, competition drives prices down to marginal cost. In the knowledge market, prices are higher than marginal cost. The seller of programs, trying to get the maximum profit, is forced to provide the maximum number of users with his products. The system of discrimination by the time of purchase, by the legal status of the buyer (commercial firm, government structure, university), the complication of the product itself (program versions, subscription, package services) ultimately lead to the maximum satisfaction of knowledge and information needs. At the same time, the problem of high-quality provision of goods is also solved, that is, the distribution of pirated copies is eradicated by the economic method. However, the issue of pirated copies remains controversial. Some consumers prefer lower quality but cheaper copies. Interestingly, the existence of an illegal business of selling pirated copies leads to a wider dissemination of knowledge and information, thereby better satisfying consumer demand. This is due to the imperfection of this market; in the future, the illegal sector will shrink and come to naught due to its inefficiency.

To regulate property relations in the sphere of so-called intangible goods, which include knowledge, there is Copyright. Along with regulated copyright, the so-called informal copyright is also in force. The world scientific community is closely monitoring that it is not violated. Theft of scientific results is strictly condemned, in whatever form it may be veiled. Copyright is closely related to the concept reputation, which in the scientific field is somewhat akin to the production capacity of an enterprise. Reputation receives a market value, in particular, in the form of the salary level of a scientist, as well as the demand for his work.

The listed features of the knowledge economy indicate its significant differences from the standard market economy in terms of existing laws and mechanisms. And this makes it difficult to build a theory.

The knowledge economy is inseparable triad of markets: knowledge market, service market and labor market. They cannot be considered in isolation, they interact so closely with each other. Many implications follow from this, and people who make decisions in this area should realize this.

Not to mention the so-called inseparable, or implicit, knowledge. We are talking about the knowledge that cannot be separated from its bearer: an individual or a scientific, design and production team. There is an opinion that the share of accumulated inseparable knowledge among Russians is higher than in other countries, which can become our competitive advantage. But collectives are easy to destroy. And now we are witnessing the collapse of outstanding teams that created, for example, large weapons systems. This destroys inseparable knowledge that is potentially worth billions of dollars.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

In modern society, it is necessary to achieve an understanding that the knowledge sector is problem solving machine. The flow of problems is varied and intense, so the organization of the knowledge sector must be flexible, dynamic - namely, the economy. But this requires a special type of specialist, the so-called innovation manager. He must feel the breakthrough direction in his gut. There are already people who become millionaires, even billionaires, working in this field, but not yet with us. This profession is in its infancy here.

Fullerenes can be cited as an example of a breakthrough direction (see "Science and Life" No. 7, 1992; No. 11, 1993 - Note. ed.). Although the Nobel Prize was not awarded to us, but 7% of the world's flow of publications in this area are Russian, with the Russian Academy of Sciences making the main contribution. This direction promises a lot. But we need innovative managers who know how to turn fundamental knowledge into money.

We are accustomed to the division of labor between manufacturers And consumers knowledge with the participation intermediary. Now there is a new system in which the consumer of knowledge participates in its creation. The market for products (knowledge) is being replaced by a market for services. And this implies the creation around large companies of numerous small innovative firms that receive orders from the "parent" company. This is how most American giants operate, such as General Motors, which invests tens of billions of dollars in research and development.

In Russia, unfortunately, this is not yet the case. The largest Russian companies should be players in the knowledge economy, creating a link between the production and consumption of knowledge. This will ensure the demand for knowledge. And here the role of the state is crucial. Without the participation of the state, the demand for knowledge cannot be organized.

Our Academy of Sciences can be viewed as a kind of large company. It should also be surrounded by small innovative firms that will create demand, various flexible forms. It is necessary to divide the functions of the director into the functions of a scientific supervisor and an executive director, as is customary in many Western countries, and also to organize departments that would be engaged in making money.

And finally reputation, be it a "scientific institution", a firm or a magazine. The reputation of the Academy of Sciences is a giant market resource. The authorities who finance it must understand this. In the knowledge economy, payment for reputation is already an axiom.

In conclusion, a few words about the main lessons of the formation of a knowledge-based economy for Russia. First of all, it is the need to change the mass consciousness. We need to convince people that wealth is in the brain, not in the depths. Although our people have a very strong belief that we are a rich country, because we have plenty of oil, gas, fresh water, finally. We must explain that we will not live with dignity until we learn to value and sell knowledge.

It is very important to convince leaders of all levels: the knowledge sector is a problem solver for money.

Our large companies must become players in the knowledge economy, learn how to create around themselves and patronize small innovative businesses. And the duty of the state is to create a favorable legal, tax, organizational and economic environment for the development of the knowledge economy.

DETAILS FOR THE CURIOUS Countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):

Australia, Austria, Belgium, UK, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, USA, Turkey, Finland , France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan.

FIFTEEN OF THEM ARE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION:

Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, France, Sweden.