Page 43 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Odiljon Abdurazzakov: Role of technology transfer catalysts in stimulating
innovation: how to apply finnish experience to emerging economies

1. Introduction and methodology
Emerging economies in the post soviet region view economic growth based on
innovation as an important condition of ensuring sustainable growth in the 21st
century. In light of this, governments of developing economies have adopted state
programs on stimulating innovation among small and medium businesses. The
government of Azerbaijan is trying to develop new technology based firms (NTBF).
The Development Concept of Azerbaijan Republic approved by the President in
2012, “Azerbaijan 2020: Look Into the Future” emphasizes the establishment of
market infrastructure network that serves to develop the non-oil sector. According to
findings of a study conducted by the World Bank in 2013, only 12 percent of
businesses in Azerbaijan which participated in the study indicated that they have
introduced new or substantially improved product or service in the past three years
(Smita, 2013). This shows a need for a system which encourages more innovative
activity among small and medium businesses. One way to succeed in developing
the non-oil sector is supporting innovative entrepreneurship.
Since the government of Azerbaijan views moving away from an economy based
on natural resources to an economy based on innovative entrepreneurship as one of
the high priority tasks, there is a need to study international experience in this field to
develop proposals for policy makers. Although there are arguments against using the
experience of developed countries in formulating strategies for emerging economies,
there is evidence in favor of a “follow the leader approach” (Rostow, 1960), i.e. that
emerging economies should adopt the models and follow the recipes of developed
countries. In light of this, it is critical to study the national innovation policies and
technology transfer systems of developed countries and modify it for the economy of
Azerbaijan in order to stimulate innovative activeness in Azerbaijan. In this paper, the
experience of one of the leading countries in the field of technology transfer, namely
Finland, is analyzed.

Methodology
The author has conducted in-depth-interviews with representatives of private
sector, universities, start-up accelerator and a public research center in Finland.
Azerbaijan ecosystem for innovative entrepreneurship has also been analyzed based
on IDIs conducted at start-up incubators and accelerators in Baku as well as using
Delphi technique in a discussion which was attended by managers of Azerbaijani
incubators and accelerators. The results of the analysis of qualitative data is used to
derive proposals for emerging economis like Azerbaijan. Section II of the paper
includes literature review on the topic of innovation and technology transfer. Section
III discusses the innovative ventures ecosystem in Azerbaijan. Section IV analyzes
the Finnish experience of technology transfer from universities to industry, with a

43