Siberian Federal University

Issue

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2017 10 (11)

Authors

Pilyasov, Alexander N.

Contact information

Pilyasov, Alexander N.: Center for the Arctic and Northern economies under the ANO “Institute of regional consulting” 17B Butlerov Str., Moscow, 117342, Russia;

Keywords

Siberia; a new model of development; innovative development; increasing returns

Abstract

There is no other major macro-region of Russia, for which finding a new model of development would be as urgent and imperative as for Siberia. Being the leader in the country and the world in terms of natural resources and water resources, this treasury of natural resources still loses to other regions in the quality of life and living standards. The main development guideline for Siberia is openness to experiments and innovative search, which now involves the main constructive effects of the arrangement of Siberian spaces, rejection of unified approaches and a brand new role of the state to encourage innovations of all kinds and get away from its former role of a simple lobbyist for large corporations, working in Siberia. The new development model of Siberia should take into account the following facts: 1. The most profitable industry for Siberia is not mining; it is processing industry, less sensitive to the ultracontinental character and isolation of the Siberian economy. Hybridity, the mixed nature of the new Siberian deposits, often makes it more reasonable to extract and process resources at the same place. 2. Flashbacks have always been typical of the economic development of Siberia: after a quick breakthrough there is a delay, a pause, which actually brings assimilation and consolidation of the innovation in the spaces of Siberia, followed by a new progressive step. 3. During active development periods, latitudinal communication along the routes and latitudinal transport channels dominate, and during the development pause (compression of development) “natural” (physical-geographical) communication along the basins of the great Siberian rivers takes over. 4. The means of rapid communication in Siberia are all subtended, which means absolute information periphery, a very slow exchange of ideas and, as a result, considerable intellectual conservatism. Special efforts should be made, specifically for Siberia, to ensure greater involvement in national and international information exchanges. 5. In terms of farming activity and rural telephone network coverage, Siberian village is relatively better prepared to absorb innovations, to update the model of economic development than an average Russian village, or villages of other federal districts. 6. The comparative role of large Siberian cities in the development of Siberia is certainly higher than that of urban agglomerations in other federal districts, precisely because of the low density and development level of Siberian spaces. In contrast to central areas, Siberian urbanization does not capture space entirely, but does it intermittently, selectively, through a network of outposts and local bases of development, which control the local, regional or wider regional space. 7. Just like creative people from all over the country accumulate in the creative regions of central Russia, talents from the colossal regional space are concentrated in the city centres of the vast Siberian territories. A special Siberian model of creativity once again confirms that Siberia should not aspire for the success of the Silicon Valley model, based on considerable communication density of the area. Here the innovation process models will be different, considering the isolation and periphery factors of the vast Siberian spaces. 8. The idea of increasing returns means obtaining effects from large and very dispersed urban agglomerations; economic regions that form localized sites of local economic clusters; contact territories of the Siberian Russian-Chinese borderland. All these effects involve the forces of small and medium-sized businesses, which generates them, actively interacting with each other and large resource companies in Siberia. 9. In contrast with the Soviet development of Siberia based on a system of stationary bases and development routes, new development of Siberia will be based on “light” vehicles and mobile means of energy supply that often do not require any fundamental infrastructural arrangement

Pages

1754-1778

Paper at repository of SibFU

https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/67839

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).