Transfer of Space Technologies Past and Present: The Russian Case

Since the end of the 1980's transfer of government sponsored high technology space goods and services to other sectors, industry, and eventually non-government use has been a growing concern of the Russian policy makers. Today the real and functional transformation of this field is on the agenda. The paper is organized as follows. The first section analyzes the evolution of the common approach to technology transfer, looks at the main obstacles to this processes as a whole, and in the space sector in particular. The second section examines the Russian space R&D sector from the point of view of its role and place in the Russian scientific and technological base. New mechanisms of technology transfer are then considered. Here, problems of conversion, commercialization, dual-use, and internationalization are examined in the context of space technology transfer. Furthermore, issues of innovation in technology transfer are discussed. The new networks that are forming through which technologies diffuse is considered. The paper then turns to legislative and regulatory problems, including the discussion of the main principles of the Russian space transfer code, which is now being drafted. It is necessary to underline, that in the Russian case, official statistics still do not help analyze the question of technology transfer.