The world´s experience shows that the stable economical growth and the gross domestic product increase are possible only on the innovative basis with active use of modern scientific and technological achievements and on the ability to innovative activities and introductions.
In present-day competitive activity the struggle for the ability to innovative introductions and not for the resource and material values possession takes place.
This problem is especially burning for our country, which is in the period of transition to market relations. Nowadays, for the majority of industrial organizations the adaptability to quickly changing economical and political situation is a pressing task.
In connection with this the choice of the enterprise´s most effective innovative activities management instrumentation, the innovation potential estimation and the ways of innovation activity promotion development emerge. It will allow providing the competitive edge of the enterprise, defining the innovative activities´ internal possibilities swiftly, detecting hidden reserves of the organization´s development for the purpose of its commercial activity´s efficiency upgrading.
The innovative activity´s and its results´ high level at the industrial organizations of developed countries is conditioned, to a large extent, by the availability and constant development of the complex of multi-industry relations formed on the one hand - under the pressure of competitive conditions, and on the other hand - at the governmental active assistance.
Lately an increased attention to the role of innovations at the state´s economic policy implementation has been paid in Russia. A package of measures on the innovation infrastructure in the form of special economic zones and technology parks is carried out; competitions on the innovation programs´ financial backing within the framework of the National Project are held among educational institutions. A significant attention is paid to the discussion of the science development strategy and its reforming. However, all these measures are of fragmentary character and do not take into account the features and tendencies formed in the innovative activities subjects.
It becomes apparent that to preserve and develop the scientific and industrial potential of the country there should be doubled the guiding and regulating role of the government in the strategy and tactics of reforms, especially if it concerns the innovative activities in the sphere of higher education. So, for example, the higher education sector percentage in internal research and development costs in Russia makes 6, 8%, for the comparison in Japan - 13, 9%, in Germany - 16, 9%, in the USA - 15, 9% and average over the EC - 21, 5%.
Among other guidelines of the governmental scientific and technological policy there outstands the flight to strengthening of science and education interrelations, and also the principles of guaranteeing the priority development of basic scientific research and the integration of scientific, scientific and technological and educational activities on the ground of various forms of participation of workers, post-graduates and students of educational institutions of higher professional education in scientific research and experimental developments by means of creation of educational and scientific complexes on the basis of educational institutions of higher professional education, scientific organizations of Science Academies having the governmental status, and also scientific organizations of national departments and other federal executive bodies.
Nevertheless, in present-day economics there is no other alternative in our enterprises except searching and using swiftly any potential to enhance the competitiveness on the ground of innovations using the like interest of other native economy branches´ subjects.
Today even strongest enterprises have no opportunity to provide a high state level of all the links of their value chain simultaneously using their own resources that is required for a rival product offering. This makes them include other organizations´ value chain separate elements, which allow implementing this task, into their business processes.
In the necessity perception, and also the combinative processes realization itself, the integration participant should not treat them formally following in this connection the principle of pragmatism and final objective distinct vision. In general, the integration activity in the microlevel (organization level) makes sense in the horizontal level, if it brings the participant organization to the following moments:
a) the promotion of efficiency and effectiveness of its own business processes carried out on the most modern basis - intensive penetration, introduction and diffusion of innovations;
b) the access to those partner´s resource categories, which are critical for the development of its own business processes and reaching by them the required results;
c) the access to the partner´s business processes´ disconnected elements, which are critical in terms of their "inclusion" into its value chain;
d) the enhancement of the joint with the partner access to the sources of financial and other third parties´ resources at the expense of increased investment appeal of the integrated structure both for the government and non-governmental organizations.
In the enumerated cases the integration processes really can give the IC participant a significant effect, and the expenditures connected with their implementation are feasible taking into account the long-term effect of integration.
The joint efforts on the integration provision, in spite of their complex character, become easier because the potential partners treat them from the same positions, and pursue the same objectives, that allows reaching a consensus on many complex questions and final effect of synergy.
It is especially indicative for the innovation role growth conditions in achieving competitive success of organizations from any branches, and thus, even according too the given above points b) and c), it is their innovative components, making partner structures consider the integration as an opportunity to develop their own innovative activities, that are meant more often.
To achieve the output goods´ market novelty high degree, taking into account the objective necessity of the innovation "transition" through special phases from its ideal to product form, enterprises have to integrate with those organizations, first of all, without the participation of which the success probability of such a "transition" diminishes sharply.
For our country such basic innovation process participants are the following organizations: Research and Development Institutes (academic and industrial), higher education institutions (polytechnical) and enterprises (small and large). Their role in the innovation cycle conditioned by the ability to "cover" its various phases by their activities is reflected in the picture 1.
The availability of a peculiar resource, business process and product collection within the limits of its branch belonging in every basic integration participant means the possibility of their cross use by other participants of the integrated structures pursuing their own and general ends. In other words, the practical implementation of the participants´ voluntary integration idea is based on their very motivation to perform product-resource exchange among themselves.
It follows from that the estimation of the state and integrated structures participants´ effective economic contacts formation perspectives can be based on the analysis of their interaction level consisting in every participant´s resources and final output degree of utilization by other participants. Being compared to the achieved level of final activity factors of the integrated structure itself, the participants´ interaction degree will reflect the integration efficiency. The similar comparison will allow shedding light on the integrated structures participants´ functioning peculiarities both individually and in the aggregate, giving its estimate, making the perspective forecast and developing managerial solutions adequate to the situation at various levels of their control. In such a conception the development of integrated structures is directly tied in with the maximization of industrial product innovation cycle successful completion possibility by means of strenuous integration of the innovation infrastructure relevant elements actualizing these phases.
Let us note that within the framework of the meaningful integration the probability of the fact that the product of one of the participants will be a resource inlet for business processes of other participants rises sharply.
It will not in word, but in fact make the integrated structures organizations critically comprehend their own and partners´ activity selecting only the most effective participants for the integration, establish more and more closer product-resource contacts among themselves finally striving for the effect of synergy.
To our opinion, only on this ground native enterprises and organizations of different industries can produce competitive goods and have a chance of corresponding to severe requirements of present-day economics, that defines a high relevance of the development of strategies and concrete measures on the IC formation in our country.
In this connection we should note that the NSTU Business Department research team has been performing investigations in this direction for some years already and has got definite results, which will be aimed to solve the problems described in the presented report; the investigations being supported by the grant of the RF Department of Education and Science.
The work was submitted to international scientific conference "Innovation technologies», USA, (New York) December, 19-27, 2007, came to the editorial office 26.10.2007.