Russia's ability to innovate was ranked 12th in the world by an index compiled by Bloomberg, beating the UK, Canada and China in the list of the world’s most innovative economies.
The rating placed Russia behind tech hub Israel because of its high density of high-tech companies and the size of its post-secondary education system. According to investor Patrick L. Young, Russia has a strong culture of innovation thanks to both its strong scientific base and difficult history.
"Going to, for example, the Moscow Open Innovation Forum, where you can see the incredible spirit of innovation that exists within the entirety of the vast continental nation of Russia. And that's one of the reasons why they've scored so high in this particular endeavor," Young told Sputnik.
Young added that Russia's capacity for innovation isn't limited to just men, and that both sexes take part in the business of innovative technology. Young noted that Russia's difficult climate and history have motivated people to adopt an innovative mindset.
"Nations which frequently undergo incredible extraneous threats, whether it's a fundamental one, [such as Russia's weather systems], it's a fact that Russians have had to make do with less, and therefore there is a great deal of incentive to use your ingenuity," Young told Radio Sputnik.
In addition to its aptitude for improvisation, Russia has fostered its engineering capabilities, according to Young, which has in part been the result of the development of missile and nuclear programs in the nation's past.
"One legacy which all national rocket [and nuclear] programs have given us, the world over, is a plethora of mathematicians. And that's why when you look at something like the technology behind the Moscow Stock Exchange, for example, it's state-of-the-art, has always been state-of-the-art ever since it was born," Young said.
Young noted that he does not believe sanctions could kill the Russian economy, although they could lead Russia to look inward in order to develop further, thereby blunting the impact of sanctions.
When it comes to natural resources, it is very easy to squander them for Russia, as was the case for other countries, such as Venezuela. However, sanctions have given the country the opportunity to look for a way to use them effectively, according to Young.
