To date, the Russian chemical industry is not included in top countries producing high-tech products. First of all, this is due to the fact that low-tonnage chemicals are poorly developed in Russia: its share of the total petrochemical production is not more than 5%. At the same time, in many European countries, this figure reaches 40%.
In our country there is no shortage of the raw material base, and against the background of the cheaper of raw materials, the share of its exports is growing. Russia's dependence on the global price situation for raw resources leads to the forced growth of the export of cheap raw materials, from which, in turn, Western companies make high-tech chemical products and supply them to our market, earning their own profits. At the same time, Russia is a country that has a huge raw material potential - almost imperceptible against the background of world leaders.
Many domestic companies today have tested technologies that are not inferior to European on the quality of the product obtained, but due to the low-tonnancy of production, their payback period takes up to 25 years. At the state level, there are no long-term subsidies programs for such industries. In the conditions of lack of sources of funding, industrial enterprises are not able to introduce new capacities, introduce innovation, it is difficult for them to go to a new technical level of development.
The government understands that the development of high-tech industries requires the support of the state, and these programs are developed, but, unfortunately, while very slow. Conditions for banking credit programs for the industrial sector do not contribute to the development of enterprises: short lending time, high rates.
If we talk about digitalization, then the Russian chemical industry is only at the initial stage of transition to the full use of digital technologies. For progress in this direction, it is primarily necessary to form a unified strategy for the chemical industry, state support for digital initiatives, as well as the creation of the missing industry infrastructure necessary for full-fledged digital transformation.
But we definitely move forward: so, for example, a month ago it became known about the development of national standards for smart production in Russia, which form the basis for creating two new series of national standards in the field of "Industry 4.0". They are devoted to virtual industrial systems and convergence of digital technologies and IT systems at industrial enterprises. This will make it possible to form general technical requirements for all high-tech companies, which as a result will quite well speed up the digitalization of the domestic industry.
At the same time, today there are quite a lot of problems in chimothy, which inhibit many processes. One of the important deterrent factors, in my opinion, is the current generation of managers, which was formed mainly 15-25 years ago and does not always share the desire for innovation.
Frequently often graduates of specialized universities that are able to introduce digital technologies in the enterprises of the industry, meet by leadership misunderstanding and distrust. Digitalization begins with the transformation of corporate culture, therefore, the formation of innovative thinking at the company level is important, which we are now and trying to do on VKHZ.
Today, state support and investment attractiveness of enterprises of the chemical industry are inextricably linked with the tasks of modernization, digitalization and reduce the negative impact on the environment. Enterprises of the chemical industry should be the locomotive of the growth of the non-fermentation sector of the Russian economy, but for this, the chemical industry should still pass a serious transformation.
In addition, cooperation with young researchers is an important point of growth for high-tech enterprises today, it applies to Himprom, as a plan for import substitution in the chemical industry is implemented in Russia. The increase in investment in this industry is calculated by trillion rubles.
Chemical companies in Russia practically do not use a venture ecosystem to search and develop new technologies. Insufficiently developed interaction between companies, universities and suppliers for joint research teams. Today, one of the main problems of scientists is to bring their ideas to the product, and businessmen are a dialogue with scientists, because communication takes place in completely different languages. All this significantly reduces the competitiveness of Russia in the global market of the chemical industry.
At the same time, I am sure that in Russia there are many talented teams capable of changing traditional markets and offer new efficient technologies and solutions. That is why we have established permanent institutions of support and development for business undertakings in the chemical industry at any stage: "VKHZ accelerator", "VHZ Development" and "VHZ Invest".
The programs are aimed at creating new and support existing small innovative enterprises seeking to develop production of new products or technology using the results of their own scientific and technical research, with the potential of commercialization.
We provide comprehensive business support (scientific, managerial, financial, marketing and organizational) promising projects of scientific teams and legal entities. The readiness stage can be any - from the described technology to the finished product introduction. The main condition is a clear vision of the final result.