Innovation from the military

It might be of interest to non-Slavic speaking readers to know about the slow but steady revival of the military complex innovation in post-Soviet countries. Why does it matter for knowledge economy, you may ask. For decades, the so called military complex was the vehicle behind the innovation in this part of the world. Often, under the disguise of the military equipment, the researchers were carrying their fundamental or applied research activities, not quite directly related to the needs of the army. The USSR collapsed and a lot of innovation processes and systems collapsed with it.

Just yesterday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the upgrade and enlisting of the AN-26 based air-born command center. Anotonov-26 used to be a mainstream of the military aviation of the Socialist block. Now Antonov and Aviant have installed equipment able to support communication between different army units, fully integrated into the existing communication platform of all units and kinds and capable of resisting any kind of modern communication supression technologies. If this kind of technology could also be adapted to ensure communication during the natural and athropogenic disasters – this could be of help to all CEE countries – AN-26 are ubiquous and could be re-fitted for this purpose. Something for Science and Techonology Center to explore?

By any means new innovative products coming from the military are only welcome – it means people working for those enterprises are slowly start to acquire back lost lust for innovation.

Recipe for capturing lessons of growth

Companies are in the rush. Market is growing around them; they double in size every year. There are problems is getting young talented people to work for them. IPO vs. a sale to private equity. Getting permissions from the messed-up government. Foids among ueber-hyped young managers who are getting carried away with cash floating their way.

Any company operating in developing world, and especially in former USSR is either going through these questions or will soon be. In the rush of such transition and development and weak government it is easy to oversee the need to capture the lessons, esp about mistakes to be avoided. And the capturing should be happening locally by locals, if jobs are to be created n the region. The job currently done by World Bank, EBRD and alike should be outsourced (or returned?) locally.

There is quite a market at stake. CEE has been moving from socialism and even communism into full-blown capitalism. Asia is emerging with socialism still alive. With millions of people going through grossly similar transition, CEE could forge a link between two processes of transformation. Boutique consultancies, professional associations, research entitites, writers and trainers could discover a way into the East on the back on CEE experience. But they need content to deal with, cases to showcase etc.

Just this week Financial Times published an interesting article in their Education section on work done by CEEMAN, Central and East European Management Development Association, – Common ground across continents – showcasing how regional network could open up to the world and start attracting Asian interest on the back of the experience of the transition. Indian schools are starting to join CEEMAN members and even Western European ones are now paying membership fees. There is a need for more of such examples.