The impact of the country’s financial development institutions on the effectiveness of innovative activity

Purpose – to assess the impact of the activity of the regional technologies commercialization offices as the main component in the mechanism of interaction of participants in the innovative process at the regional level, on the effectiveness of innovative activity in the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Methodology – synthesis, content-analyze, accommodation, correlation-regression analysis of data, index method.

Originality/value – transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan economy to an innovative way of development is possible only on the basis of the accelerated technological development of economy real sector. At the same time, it is important to assess the impact of the country’s financial development institutions on the effectiveness of innovative activity of the regions in order to ensure their innovative development, formation of selective scientific-technical and innovative component, oriented to realization of reasonably chosen priorities.

Findings – on the basis of index method and correlation-regression analysis of the data, the impact of technologies commercialization offices as the main component in the mechanism of interaction of participants in the innovative process at the regional level, on the development of innovative activity in the regions of the republic was confirmed. The place and a role of state regulation of innovative activity in social and economic policy of the country are defined. Organizational and methodological problems during the developing and realization of innovative policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan are also in details investigated that causes need of development and promotion of development institutions in the country to achieve effective regional policy of innovations. 

Development of competitive advantages of the economy of Kazakhstan in the long term can only be ensured by transition of the economy of innovation. Scientific and technological progress is the basis for economic growth. The largest share of GDP in developed countries is new or improved technologies, products, services [1]. So, according to different assessments, the use of innovative technologies ensures 75%-100% of the increase in production in the industrial sphere [2]. In this connection, in the world economic competition, the states that have been able to create a favorable climate for the realization of innovative activity, including state support for applied and fundamental scientific research, formation of innovative infrastructure, training of specialists and scientific personnel for the purpose of realization of innovative activity, protection of intellectual property and involvement of innovations in economy [3].

So, innovative activity is the core of "Europe 2020" Strategy, because innovative activity according to this Strategy is the best way to successful solution of main social problems, such as aging and health problems, energy and resource deficit, climate change, becoming daily more and more relevant [4]. Scientific research and innovation directly contribute to the European level of prosperity and well-being of the individual and society as a whole. The main purpose of the R&D policy is the transformation of the European Union into a leading economy based on knowledge [5]. In this regard, it is useful for the Republic of Kazakhstan to understand the European trend in the development of innovative activity, primarily in the post-Soviet countries that are members of the EU (for example, in the Republic of Latvia), as well as the ways to develop cooperation with them in the innovative sphere.

The most important prerequisite for increasing economic competitiveness in the region of the country is innovative development in priority economic sectors that provide output with high added value [6]. For the development of high-tech industries, realization of innovative activity and scientific and technological developments in the Republic of Kazakhstan, laws and programs in this direction have been adopted, as well as the most important institutions for development in this field have been created [7].

One of the key directions of state policy in the sphere of innovative development is the development and promotion of development institutions in the country [8]. The most important institutions in this sphere are the following: Development Bank of Kazakhstan (further DBK); "DAMU" Entrepreneurship Development Fund (further DAMU); Investment Fund of Kazakhstan (further IFK); Science Fund; "National Innovation Fund" JSC (further "NIF" JSC), since 2012 – "National Agency for Technological Development" JSC (further "NATD" JSC). The main task of these development institutions is the financing of perspective projects that promote the development of new industries, the growth of the country’s economy, which have social significance.

The analysis of own and world experience has demonstrated that to carry out these tasks the single operator is needed, integrating component that should implement complex approach to develop innovative activity in the country [9]. "NATD" JSC became this operator with close cooperation with the regional technologies commercialization offices (hereinafter "TCO"), formed in 2011, which promote the establishment and development of partnership between inventors, local authorities and enterprises [10]. Now "NATD" JSC is the national institute of development in the sphere of technological development, which was created to assist in coordinating the processes of innovative activity and providing state support measures, using various financial instruments [11].

"NATD" JSC was created 21 regional Technology Commercialization Offices (TCO) in the country, in particular, in following regions of the country: Astana c.; Almaty c.; Pavlodar c. (Pavlodar region), UstKamenogorsk c., Semey c. (East-Kazakhstan region); Kyzylorda c. (Kyzylorda region); Karaganda c. (Karaganda region); Uralsk c. (West-Kazakhstan region); Shymkent c. (South-Kazakhstan region). The main purpose of Technology Commercialization Offices is to promote the commercialization of the results of scientific research carried out by research institutes and universities. Accordingly, the activity of TCO as the main component in the mechanism of interaction of participants in the innovative process at the regional level has a significant impact on the development of innovative activity in the region of the republic. To confirm this impact, we consider the indicators characterizing the effectiveness of innovative activity in the regions, and, ultimately, the wealth of the region, expressed as GRP per capita of the region.

The effectiveness of innovative activity in the regions can be assessed through the following indicators: the share of organizations that carry out R&D; the degree of innovative activity of the regions, expressed in percentage; expenses on R&D in relation to the gross regional product (GRP); the volume of production of innovative products in relation to expenses of their production; volume of production of innovative products in relation to GRP; the share of innovative-active enterprises in the region [12]. The use of relative indicators will allow avoiding the influence of regional scale on the choice of the region. In this case, only the qualitative aspect in the innovative development of the region will be compared. In order to determine the most active region in the innovation field, according to the above mentioned indicators, we will construct the index of innovative development of the region according to the formulas (1), (2):

The greatest value of the index characterizes the degree of its development. At the same time, the value obtained within the framework of more than 0.3 will correspond to a high degree of development of the region in the innovative attitude, 0.2-0.3 – medium development level, less than 0.2 – low. Calculations in accordance with the statistical data of the Republic of Kazakhstan Committee on Statistics for the regions of the country in 2015 are given in tables 1-6. 

Table 1 – The index of the number of innovative-active enterprises in the region in 2015 

Table 2 – The index of expenses on R&D in relation to the gross regional product (GRP) in 2015 

Table 3 – The index of innovative activity of regions in 2015, in percentage 

Table 4 – The index of the number of organizations that carried out R&D in 2015 

Table 5 – The index of the volume of production of innovative products in relation to expenses of their production in 2015 

Table 6 – The index of the volume of production of innovative products in relation to GRP in 2015 

The obtained values of the index of innovative development of the region for 2015 are presented in table 7.

Table 7 – The index of innovative development of regions in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2015 

In accordance with the obtained values, according to used method of calculation of the index of innovative development of the region, the largest value of the index have the regions in which Technology Commercialization Offices are operated promoting to commercialization of local c developments at the regional level, what confirms their effectiveness for the purpose of regional development, and in general the effectiveness in the future of the mechanism of interaction of participants in the innovative process at the regional level.

In addition, in order to determine the most active region in innovation field, the equation of the dependence of the gross regional product as the final result of the region’s activity is applicable, from the system of indicators that characterize innovative regional development on the basis of performing correlation-regression analysis.

This model will be the basis for analyzing the innovative development of regions and their further ranking depending on received GRP. To the system of indicators characterizing innovative regional development, we can include, in our opinion, the following indicators: total volume of innovative products at the enterprises of the region; the volume of improved and newly introduced products at the enterprises of the region; number of innovative active enterprises in the region; indicator of employed population in the innovative sphere; investment in fixed capital per capita in the region. Using the method of sequential inclusion, it is the most suitable five-factor model, which is presented in the following form, the formula (3): 

Y = 196837 + 121,2X1 + 12,18Х2 + 34871,5Х3 + 239,8Х4 + 196,4Х5 (3), where,

Y – gross regional product (GRP), billion tenge;;

Х1 – volume of improved products at the enterprises of the region, mln. tenge;

Х2 – total volume of innovative products at the enterprises of the region, mln. tenge; Х3 – quantity of innovative-active enterprises in the region;

Х4 – number of employees engaged in R&D, people;

Х5 – investment in fixed capital per capita in the region, mln. tenge/people.

It should be noted that a high level of the correlation coefficient with its approach to 1 will indicate a

close relationship between the influencing factors and GRP (R = 0.89). To calculate the degree of innovative development of the region in the integral form, we used the method of rating analysis based on the calculation of standardized coefficients. At the first stage of calculations, the base level is assigned to the region with the best indicator, which has the highest value with involvement of the maximum value – 1, in respect of which the calculations are made. The values of the remaining regions are calculated in fractions of one. This approach makes it possible to balance the values of the studied indicators and bring them into a single comparable type. The next step is squaring of the obtained values. Due to the fact that in the regression equation the significance of the indicators is not the same, the next step is to calculate the weight of each indicator depending on the degree of its impact on the gross regional product, and then use of the obtained values of the coefficients (multiplying them by the standardized corresponding coefficients) for investigation of weighted average values of innovative development of the regions of the republic.

In accordance with the calculation of the received indicators according to the statistical data of the Republic of Kazakhstan Committee on Statistics in 2015, the ranking of regions was carried out depending on the level of innovative development, by GRP indicator, presented in table 8. At the same time, the value obtained within the framework of more than 10 will correspond to a high degree of development in the innovative attitude of the region, from 6 to 10 – the average degree of development, below 6 – low. 

Table 8 – The degree of innovative development of regions, expressed through GRP 

According to the ranking of regions, depending on the level of innovative development, expressed through GRP, the highest levels of innovative development have regions such as Almaty c., Astana c., Karaganda and East Kazakhstan regions. Slightly lower values in Kyzylorda and Pavlodar regions, which generally emphasizes the effectiveness of innovative activity in these regions, an important role in which is played the effectiveness of the functioning of Technologies Commercialization Offices in these regions.

Thus, it is proved that the effectiveness of realization of the activity of the financial development institutions fund (at the example of the activity of Technologies Commercialization Offices as the main component in the mechanism of interaction of participant in the innovative process at the regional level), really affects the effectiveness of innovative activity of the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This confirms the need to maintain Technologies Commercialization Offices at the regional level that will promote the innovative product in the real sector of the economy, and, thereby, will provide an opportunity to use the intellectual potential of the regions with full return.

In addition, the functioning of regional technologies commercialization offices at regional level can become the basis for effective economic policy of the state in the sphere of innovative activity’s regulation, the key point of its activity is assistance in commercialization of scientific developments of domestic scientists and activation of innovative activity of scientists and enterprises in the regions of the country on this basis [14].

In this regard, a greater role will belong to the future development of scientific and technological institutions, to the growth of the effectiveness of the activity of research organizations, technology parks, technology commercialization offices, "NATD" JSC, thanks to which the technological component will be provided for the competitiveness of the economy of country regions.

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