ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DIGITAL ECONOMY OF RUSSIA

Introduction

Financial investments, organizational and technological innovations in business environment significantly transform the configurations of globalized markets. Conservative schemes for the production of goods and services are growing unpopular and uncompetitive as their qualitative properties lose considerably their consumer value. Radical innovations are the main reason for the fundamental changes. The nowadays pupular topic of innovation development was first introduced into academic circulation by Clayton M. Christensen. His widely used today slogan disruptive innovation was used in a journal publication in 1995 [2]. Later on, in his most famous book The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (1997) he exhibited the so-called “model of disruptive innovation”.  Many economists use this theory / model to explain the significant impact of innovative technologies on the effective business operation. Clayton Christensen develops in his books the idea of innovative business [3]; [4]; [5]; [6]; [7]. Within the modern context of understanding the logic of efficient business, the model of disruptive innovation appears to become a sort of innovative idea that encourages the actors of “disruptive innovation” to build up additional market value for goods and services. Disruptive innovation consistently undermines the available market network, ousting the leading corporations, goods and services from the globalized market. Christensen examines the fundamental reasons for which the major corporations, leaders in their industrial sectors, rapidly lose their economic positions when new players, innovations and novel technologies appear on the market. Fundamentally new properties of goods and services find their consumers, who buy them despite definite shortcomings inherent to them. Such consumers create a spontaneous and steady demand, for which to meet there are made respective investments in the latest technologies, and the innovative business environment keeps developing. At the same time, the volume of new production is getting significantly increased. In such a way, there comes that important economic moment when new technologies are becoming disruptive by their nature and can be justifiably named as disruptive innovations and disruptive technologies. According to the conclusions made by Clayton Christensen, all value motivations, production, organizational and other processes radically change at the very moment when there appear disruptive innovations.

The use of additional capacities brought by disruptive innovation / disruptive technologies to facilitate the competitive qualities of a company or a state testifies to that the fourth industrial (technological) revolution provides additional opportunities for realizing the human potential. It is necessary to discover the newest disruptive technologies faster than others in the competitive race, to estimate their value as accurately as possible and to achieve intended goals in full. Among such disruptive technologies can be web-based services and real time computations, P2P business, software-as-a-service, as well as grid computing, electronic tagging, and location-based services [8].  When translating the term disruptive innovation into Russian, it has more of a negative connotation. That’s why we see more fitting in the context of our work the wording which can be back translated into English as breakthrough technologies. Economic growth points are being operated more efficiently when disruptive technologies are implemented in quite a broad and very fast manner. Companies, organizations and enterprises which cannot adapt to the changing conditions of doing modern business (business as it is, in the broad sense of the word) must disappear. It takes time for understanding and estimation of the potential brought about by the newest technologies (blockchain, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, etc.), yet it is very much limited. In such a turbulent situation, it is necessary to delineate a few key points: there are needed such technologies which provide the most effective solutions for specific problems; radical transformation of former behaviors of actors, because each problem affects people in a certain way while they are forced to make rationally based decisions quickly. The competitive race under conditions of the information society brings victory to those who are fast in decision-making in a real-time mode. Digitalization of the economy (and everyday life) makes us recruit modern information technologies more extensively. The rule “Digitize or Die” is a metaphor pointing at a strategically important step for any leader who is in need of implementing a certain business model in an organization [9]. A good example of implementing disruptive innovation is the TBD system (Technology, Behaviour and Data) that helps many corporations in maintaining their long-term success. Plainly speaking, TBD is a set of guiding lines for making effective decisions, using rational investment strategies, and promoting practical implementation of innovations. Disruptive innovations / disruptive technologies are a clear threat to the old-time “closed technologies”.

The processes of introduction of disruptive technologies has both positive and negative implications. Their effect and applied value can be verified by means of monitoring changes occurring during real economic activities. Examples of disruptive technologies: in the technological segment of advanced communications in 1865, telephones began to take the place of telegraph devices; in the early 19th century in Western Europe, ships with a steam engine began to displace sailing vessels; in the middle of the 20th century, devices with semiconductors began to force out electrovacuum devices; in the beginning of the 21st century, digital cameras began to oust film cameras from the camera market, and e-mail technologies finally replaced today the “paper-envelope” mail. In “Disruptive technologies” (2017) Paul Armstrong suggests to comprehend the necessary steps that every responsible businessman should take to ensure that the latest technologies (disruptive technologies) could be used “to the maximum” of their potential. He analyzes the whole set of interrelated knowledge and methods that allow him to interact effectively with disruptive technologies to enhance the basic positions in any business. Among such novel technologies are: blockchain (financial transactions with bitcoin), artificial intelligence, graphene, nanotechnologies and other determining factors. There are such ones as sharing economy, mobile penetration, millennial generation as a workforce, ageing but still employable populations [1]. Paul Armstrong has elaborated a sort of a roadmap for the correct formulation of topical problems, their objective evaluation and making effective decisions. He believes that to this end it is required to have rationally designed forecasting of potential scenarios, frameworks, alternative strategies and other methodological tools for auditing technological capabilities of a particular business. Extended circulation of technological and business innovations, the latest social innovations and lifestyles, radical transformation of the employment structure are primarily related in a global context to such a phenomenon as creative destruction which goes far beyond geographic and political boundaries. These trends are mostly visible in the economic segments of modern society. Such a situation initiates academicians to undertake a complex interdisciplinary research of the nature and consequences for states, corporations, consumer groups and even single individuals of a phenomenon called disruptive technologies. Innovative breakthrough / disruptive technologies is the most important resource for socio-economic growth and progress [10].

Conclusion.

Here is presented the problematics related to the premises of successful implementation of the economic digitization program in Russia. The business model based on the use of disruptive innovations allows to build up a new market demand for goods and services. Competition on a global scale contributes to the accelerated introduction of disruptive technologies, radically transforming the present situation on the world markets. The theory and practice of disruptive innovations ensures the implementation of radical socio-economic transformations on a planetary scale. The reformatting of the world economic space is heterogeneous. Technological breakthroughs are always driven by the use of system innovations. Therefore, the advantage goes to those “fast and ultrafast” states and corporations that own true breakthrough innovations which are both disruptive and creatively destructive. Accelerated spreading of innovations contributes to a radical transformation of society as a whole. Such frontal changes are determined, in the first place, by the phenomenon of creative destruction / disruptive innovation / disruptive technologies, which objectively become the drivers of scientific and technological progress. Interdisciplinary research of high-tech factors underlying socio-economic growth is a priority for academicians belonging to all spheres of scientific activity. Under conditions of a dynamically developing information society, the research into the phenomenon of disruptive technologies and innovations will make it possible to effectively implement the key social and economic projects in Russia.

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2. Christensen, Clayton (1995). Disruptive Technologies Catching the Wave. Harvard Business Review: P 3.
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5. Christensen, Clayton M. & Eyring, Henry J. (2011) The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. CA, San Francisco  Jossey-Bass; 512 p.
6. Christensen, Clayton M. & Raynor, Michael E. (2013) The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth. Massachusetts, Brighton: Harvard Business Review Press; 320 p.
7. Christensen, Clayton M. (2016) The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change). Massachusetts, Brighton: Harvard Business Review Press; 288 p.
8. Evans, Nicholas D. (2002) Business Innovation and Disruptive Technology: Harnessing the Power of Breakthrough Technology. (US), New Jersey, Upper Saddle River: FT Press; 256 p.
9. Windpassinger, Nicolas (2017) Internet of Things: Digitize or Die: Transform your organization. Embrace the digital evolution. Rise above the competition. Publisher: IoT Hub; 245 p.
10. Zhuplev, Anatoly V. (Ed.) (2018) Disruptive Technologies for Business Development and Strategic Advantage. USA, PA, Hershey: IGI Global; 364 p.

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