Structural convergence in the economy of Russia and its limitations
The results of an analysis on the features of technological changes and the resulting structural shifts in the economies of developed countries suggest that in recent decades the digitalization of technology, meaning the translation of information to a digital format understood by modern computers, has played a key role in the development of an innovative technological basis and is eliminating the distinctions between different types of information, equalizing their content, and promoting their unification. The processes of the convergence of technological structures, that is the processes of interpenetration and the combination of different technological innovations, play a key role in the deployment of innovative structural changes in the economy. They stimulate the creation of new types of structural changes and structural convergences, which, in turn, form the basis for the emergence of new forms of networks and clustered structures in the economy. In structural dynamics, priority is given to the formation of a technological platform with stable social groups based on intellectual resources and are the structure-forming resources needed to develop structural shifts in the economy. The factors limiting technological and structural convergence in the Russian economy are: low levels of innovative investment activity in the business sector; inactivity in the commercialization of intellectual property; ineffectiveness of venture capital funds and innovational infrastructure; weak entrepreneurial demand for innovative products; an absence of partnerships between the government, science and business; investment tax credits; and tax incentives for research and development expenditures. Characterizing the main features of degenerative shifts involves uncovering the intrinsic crisis-triggering mechanism in the Russian economy's industrial structure, which is when the role of the main structure-forming factor in developed countries shifted from the primary sector to the innova-tional sector, whereas on the contrary, in the economic strategy of Russia, the primary sector is still the engine room of development. For the effective formation of a so-called "technological platform" and the transition to innovative development in the Russian economy, it is necessary to carry out a technological modernization and transformation of the Russian economy's industrial structure (neo-industrialization), that is creating completely new technological systems and their interpenetration in industrial development, which will result in the emergence of new network structures necessary to overcome the structural crisis and achieve sustainable economic growth.