TECHNOLOGICAL MODES, INNOVATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC

Abstract

The article for the first time made an attempt to adapt the theory of technological modes of S. Glazyev and technical and economic paradigms of K. Perez for highly specific conditions of the economic development of the resources of the Russian Arctic (on the basis of its technological dynamics in the industrial and modern era). Based on dozens resource projects that have been deployed in the Russian Arctic in recent decades, the characteristic features of the new technological order (the fifth Kondratiev), which are described by the triad “platform — shift — marine logistics”, are summarized. These features embody the philosophy of the emerging new economic era in the Russian Arctic, which is based on water / air environments, space autonomy, mobility and flexibility of technological solutions. A comparison of the basic characteristics of the modern and the previous (the third and the fourth) technological modes in the Soviet / Russian Arctic was carried out. The mechanism of the resource crisis emergence in the old industrial regions of the Arctic, which usually precedes the formation of a new technological order, is described. The Arctic innovation cycle phenomenon is described as a gap in time between the geological discovery in the depression phase of the previous Kondratiev and commercial development at the stage of the formation of a new technological order. The Yamal LNG project has been identified as a flagship for a new technological paradigm that sets standards of the best practice for the rest of the Arctic and demonstrates a new, previously unattainable level of labor productivity. The key conflict of the modern Russian Arctic is characterized as a contradiction of interests of subsoil users located in different “structural” realities, for access to limited natural resources (licensed areas of gas, oil and coal fields): LNG against pipeline gas, ore gold against placer gold, condensate oil fields against homogeneous fields, etc. The main state support in the Arctic should be provided to mining industries of the fifth and sixth Kondratievs, which have enormous growth potential, but face limitations in the resource base due to competition with other (more technologically archaic) subsoil users.

Keywords

• new technological order
• economic development of the arctic
• resource cycle
• resource crises
• innovation cycle “geological discovery — commercial development”
• coexistence of greenfield and brownfield resource projects