Technological innovation. Technological innovations are the basis of the future Russian economy

The technological policy of the state creates market incentives for the formation of an innovation-oriented strategy by national private companies. Of course, only private companies can reliably assess the commercial effect of the introduction of a particular technology, build a competent investment strategy, reducing potential risks. But for many reasons, private companies often tend to "underinvest" their funds in promising activities related to the development, acquisition and adaptation of new technologies in production.

Firstly, innovative investments require high costs both for the modernization of production, the acquisition or creation of new equipment, the collection and analysis of information on the production and marketing of products, and for fundamental and applied research, the training of highly qualified specialists, and the development of related technologies. Second, innovating companies receive only a fraction of the total commercial income from the implementation of research results. Not only national, but also foreign companies have access to these results. According to some estimates, an innovator company has on average only 30% of the total income from the introduction of a new technology. Thirdly, the introduction of new technologies is associated with high risks.

There are two types of technological innovations: product and process. The introduction of a new product is defined as a radical product innovation. Such innovations are based on fundamentally new technologies or on a combination of existing technologies in their new application. Product improvement - incremental product innovation - is associated with an existing product, when its quality or cost characteristics change.

Process innovation is the development of new or significantly improved production methods and technologies, changes in equipment or production organization.

According to the degree of novelty, innovations are divided into fundamentally new ones, i.e. having no analogues in the past and in domestic and foreign practice, and innovations of relative novelty. Fundamentally new types of products, technologies and services have priority, absolute novelty and are original samples, on the basis of which replication receives innovations, imitations, copies.

Among imitation innovations, there are techniques, technologies and products of market novelty, new areas of application and innovations of comparative novelty (having analogues in the best foreign and domestic firms) and innovations-improvements. In turn, innovations-improvements according to the subject-content structure are divided into displacing, replacing, supplementing, improving, etc.

The innovation life cycle is a set of interrelated processes and stages of innovation creation. The life cycle of an innovation is defined as the period of time from the birth of ideas to the removal from production of an innovative product implemented on its basis.

Frequent change of equipment and technology creates great complexity and instability of production. During the period of transition to new equipment and the development of new technological processes, the performance indicators of all departments of the company decrease. That is why innovations in the field of technological processes and labor tools should be accompanied by new forms of organization and management, operational, per-processor and detailed calculation of economic efficiency.

Conducting research and design work to develop the idea of ​​innovation, conduct laboratory research, manufacture laboratory samples of new products, types new technology, new designs and products;

Selection required types raw materials and materials for the manufacture of new types of products;

Development of a technological process for the manufacture of new products;

Design, manufacture, testing and development of exemplary equipment necessary for the manufacture of products;

Development and implementation of new organizational and managerial decisions aimed at the implementation of innovations;

Research, development or acquisition of the necessary information resources and information support for innovations;

Training, education, retraining and special methods of recruitment of personnel necessary for R&D;

Carrying out work or acquiring the necessary documentation for licensing, patenting, acquiring "know-how";

Organization and conduct of marketing research to promote innovation, etc.

Indicators of the company's potential. For development innovation activities firms are important quantitative and qualitative indicators of its scientific and technical potential. These include:

Material and technical, characterizing the level of development of R & D, equipment with experimental equipment, materials, instruments, office equipment, computers, automatic devices etc.;

Personnel, characterizing the composition, quantity, structure, qualifications of personnel serving R&D;

Scientific and theoretical, characterizing the results of exploratory and fundamental theoretical research underlying the scientific backlog available at the company;

Information characterizing the state of information resources, scientific and technical information, current scientific periodicals, scientific and technical documentation in the form of reports, regulations, technical projects and other design documentation;

Organizational and managerial, including the necessary methods for organizing and managing R&D, innovative projects, information flows;

Innovative, characterizing science intensity, novelty and priority of ongoing work, as well as an intellectual product in the form of patents, licenses, know-how, rationalization proposals, inventions, etc.;

Market, evaluating the level of competitiveness of innovations, the availability of demand, orders for R&D, the necessary marketing activities to promote innovations to the market, etc.;

Economic, characterizing the economic efficiency of innovations, the cost of ongoing research, the market value of intellectual products; indicators evaluating the value of both own and third-party patents, licenses, know-how and other types of intellectual property;

Financial, characterizing investments in R&D, intangible assets, sources of financing (the possibility of issuing shares and bonds, attracting foreign and private investors, etc.).

The fundamental difference between the innovative activity of the company and the current production lies in the fact that the assessment of the current state of the company, including equipment and technology, is based on identifying the conditions for success based on past experience and current trends. Such an analysis is characterized by the use of a retrospective correlation between the results economic activity and costs.

Indicators of the technical level of production. Methodologically, one should distinguish between indicators of economic efficiency of raising the technical and organizational level and

indicators of the level itself, i.e. state of engineering, technology, organization, management and R&D.

An increase in the technical and organizational level of production is ultimately manifested in the level of use of the main elements of the production process: labor, means of labor and objects of labor. That is why such economic indicators as labor productivity, capital productivity, material intensity, turnover working capital, reflecting the intensity of the use of production resources, are indicators of the economic efficiency of increasing the level of applied new equipment and technology. The above indicators are called partial indicators of intensification. Their analysis should be carried out according to the factors of the technical and organizational level. Along with private indicators, general indicators are also used.

All generalizing indicators characterizing the increase in the economic efficiency of measures for technical and organizational development are grouped into the following groups:

Increment of labor productivity, relative deviation of the number of employees and wage fund;

Increment of material output (reduction of material consumption), relative deviation in the cost of material resources;

Increase in capital productivity (decrease in capital intensity) of the main production assets, the relative deviation of fixed production assets;

Increment in the speed of turnover of working capital, relative deviation (release or binding) of working capital;

Increasing the volume of output due to the intensification of the use of labor, material and financial resources;

Increase in profit or production cost;

Increment of indicators financial condition and solvency of the firm.

The proposed system of indicators of the economic efficiency of new technology is the same for all branches of material production.

Economic evaluation of innovations. The quality of the technological process is realized in its ability to create innovation. It is evaluated both from the standpoint of technical and technological characteristics, and the system of economic indicators.

A very important stage of innovation activity is the search for cardinal relationships and interdependencies between indicators of the technical level, the quality of applied innovations, the conditions of their production and operation, and economic efficiency.

The useful effect of an innovation, both in production and in operation, cannot always be estimated using cost estimates. Therefore, two criteria are used: the criterion of minimum reduced costs and the integral (generalizing) indicator of the quality of innovations.

With the change in the economic situation during the transition to market economy for the company, there was a reorientation of the criteria for the technical and technological level and economic efficiency of innovations. In the short term, the introduction of innovations worsens economic performance, increases production costs, and requires additional investment in the development of R&D. In addition, intensive innovation processes, including the introduction of new equipment and technology, disrupt stability, increase uncertainty and increase the risk production activities. Moreover, innovations do not allow the full use of production resources, reduce the utilization of production capacities, and can lead to underemployment of staff, to mass layoffs.

It is the market that acts as the decisive arbiter of the selection of innovations. He rejects the highest priority innovations if they do not meet commercial benefits and maintain the competitive position of the company. That is why technological innovations are divided into priority, important for the economic and technological security of the country, and commercial innovations, necessary for the company in the transition to the market. The criteria for the technical level and effectiveness of new technologies should be adequate to the requirements of scientific and technical

public policy, and commercial feasibility, and appropriate funding sources.

Thus, for indicators of profitability and financial stability of the company, new technology is undesirable in more than half of the cases. Moreover, the volatility of technology in industries characterized by a long life cycle, capital-intensive and capital-intensive industries can cause irreparable damage if it is not properly forecasted, implemented and exploited.

In knowledge-intensive, progressive industries, the situation is the opposite: it is technological “shifts and breakthroughs” and the introduction of new technologies that dramatically increase the competitiveness of the company and lead to profit maximization in the long run.

The transition to the production of new systems and new generations of products is possible only on the basis of new technologies.

When introducing fundamentally new technological solutions, production activities may become unprofitable not only in the short term, but also in the long term.

To eliminate the inefficiency of technological decisions made, it is important to identify the relationship between the implemented technology and the competitiveness of the company and its behavior.

N. Komkov, E. Kulichkov, Y. Shatrako
Economic Strategies, No. 5/2003

Importance of introducing new technologies for economic development

Economy of Russia early XXI century is dependence on the increase in world prices for oil and gas, the devaluation of the national currency, the decline in production in high-tech industries, the outflow of highly qualified specialists from the country and financial resources, a sharp aging of personnel at industrial enterprises, research institutes and design bureaus, a low standard of living of the population. At the same time, the industrial economy developed countries, based on critical, basic and high technologies (1), continue to grow steadily. And this is happening not without the help of Russia, which provided its market for the products of these countries and invested in the development of their industry through the export of capital and voluntary withdrawal from its traditional foreign markets.

In advanced countries, the development and implementation of technological innovations is a decisive factor in social and economic development, a guarantee economic security. Thus, in the United States, the increase in per capita national income due to this factor is up to 90%. At present, the United States is the world's leader in scientific and technological progress. Their dominant position is based on a well-thought-out long-term scientific and technological policy, which implies sustainably high investments.

The number of specialists employed in the development of technological innovations has grown over the past 5 years in the United States from 0.8 to 1.2 million people, and in OECD countries from 2.4 to 2.7 million people. Yielding to the OECD countries in terms of total costs for the development of technological innovations and the number of highly qualified specialists employed in this area, the United States, thanks to the concentration of financial resources and the established management mechanisms, surpass them in work efficiency.

The direct impact of US technological innovations on scientific and technological progress throughout the world, their global penetration into international economic policy is determined by the dynamics of the technological balance of payments and the scale of export-import operations in high-tech industries. In assessing the effectiveness of international technology exchange crucial has a coefficient of "technological independence" - the ratio of technological balances of payments and incomes of the country. Over the past 10 years, this coefficient in the United States did not fall below 4. In the same period in Germany, Japan, Great Britain, its value did not exceed the level of 0.8 - 1.2. In the international market, science-intensive industries are considered to be aerospace, electronic, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, the production of electrical, engineering, management equipment, computers.

The export-import orientation of these industries meets both the interests of the scientific, technical and industrial policy of the state, as well as the needs of the economy. In the context of the implementation of the doctrine of the openness of the domestic market, such a policy ensures the competitiveness of national science, technology and industry and the attraction of foreign scientific and technical potential in those industries where it is most rational from the point of view of market economy and the national interests of the state.

The total volume of technology exports from the United States for high-tech industries over the past 6 years amounted to more than 615 billion dollars, while imports did not exceed 490 billion dollars. Thus, the United States has secured a leading position in the high-tech market for the next twenty to thirty years.

Technological structure of the country's economy

In economics different countries production volumes are extremely unevenly distributed over the technological structure. Thus, industrialized countries, having, as a rule, relatively small reserves natural resources and energy carriers, concentrate the main production capacities at the middle and final stages of the technological cycle: in the processing and manufacturing industry, in the service sector, and in the production of final products, including consumer goods. This is a progressive type of technological structure. In contrast, the productive potential of many developing countries is concentrated on initial stages cycle: in the resource extraction and processing industry. If developed countries have excess capacities in the manufacturing industry and the production of final products, a significant share of which is exported, then developing countries export primary resources, energy carriers and products of their processing, importing the final products of the processing and manufacturing industries. This type of technological structure in world practice is called colonial. However, some industrialized countries have a fairly developed extractive industry, and a number of developing countries have quite modern technologies in the manufacturing industry and the production of end products.

In the distribution of gross value added by complexes of sectors of the US economy in recent years, there is a clear predominance of processing and manufacturing industries, which constitute the "core" of the technological structure of the country's economy and provide almost 3/4 of gross value added. This structure provides the United States with control over the main technological potential of the world economy and the ability to selectively acquire resources and consumer goods in other countries from a position of technological superiority.

Meanwhile, the Russian economy has become similar to the colonial economy of resource-oriented developing countries. True, unlike these countries, Russia has significant capacities in the manufacturing industry and in the defense sector.

After the change in the political system and the accelerated transition of Russia to the market, the state and changes in the technological structure of the country's economy were practically of no interest. state power. It is not surprising that the industrialized states, capable of providing economic support to democratic Russia, began to perceive it as a developing country.

As a result, the renewal of production capacities slowed down, and cooperation ties were disrupted. If we take into account that the transition to the market was accompanied by almost forced privatization in the conditions of " shock therapy”, it becomes clear why Russia’s GDP has halved, and industrial production has sharply declined. It is advisable to evaluate the activities of economic entities aimed at fulfilling the tasks formulated by the President of Russia in the Address Federal Assembly, taking into account their scientific and technical potential. The indicators are mostly disappointing:

1. Currently, the number of specialists engaged in scientific and technical research and development is 895 thousand people. Of these, researchers - 428
300 people. In comparison with 1992, the number of researchers decreased by 376,100 people, that is, by 1.9 times. It is important to note that since 1992 the number of design bureaus has decreased by 2.9 times, and design and engineering organizations - by 6.2 times.

The main types of technological innovation activities of organizations are currently:

25.8% - acquisition and development of machinery and equipment related to technological innovations;
15.3% - production design, other types of production preparation for the release of new products, the introduction of services or methods of their production (transfer);
13.5% - research and development of new products, services and methods of their production,
new production processes;
11.2% - purchase of software;
9.9% - education and training of personnel related to technological innovation;
7,8% - marketing research in the field of technological innovation;
6.5% - acquisition of technological innovations;
10.0% - other technological innovations.

Statistical data make it possible to identify the distribution of research and development costs in the total volume of shipped products, namely:

64.4% of organizations spend on research and development up to 1% of the total volume of shipped products;
14.7% of organizations - 4% or more;
11.7% of organizations - 1-2%;
9.3% of organizations - 2-4%.

2. In 2002, 637 advanced technologies were created, of which fundamentally new -
44, which is 6.9%. in creating cutting-edge production technologies 322 organizations took part. 3,017 organizations used advanced technologies, representing 0.09% of total number organizations in industry. Over the past 9 years, 56,432 advanced production technologies have been mastered.
3. The composition of technological innovations is as follows: Group I - design and engineering;

Group II - production, processing and assembly;

Group III - automated transportation of metals and parts, as well as automated loading and unloading operations;
Group IV - automated monitoring and control equipment; Group V - communication and control;
Group VI - production Information system; VII group - integrated management and control.

So, there is a significant lag in production in the complex of high technologies and a decrease in the average qualification of scientific, technical and production personnel. Figure 4 shows the ratio of factors hindering technological innovation.

Prospects for the development of technological innovations at domestic enterprises

V modern Russia only the economic growth is able to provide financial and other resource accumulations necessary for qualitative changes in the national economy and technological modernization of production. Such an approach will also eliminate the existing disproportion in the technological structure of the economy: at present, the share of industry in GDP is no more than 26%, in former USSR it was 37%, and in developed industrial countries it exceeds 45%. To overcome the current trend, it is advisable to use normative forecasting methods that would make it possible to fundamentally change the trajectory of the country's development.

To form a strategy for the innovation-active development of the economy, it is preferable to present its technological structure in the form of successive stages of technological processing of products and appropriately ordered industries. The latter are divided into four aggregated complexes depending on the initial and manufactured product. An analysis of the dynamics of the main economic indicators for four aggregated complexes of industries for the period from 1993 to 2002 made it possible to obtain the following results:

1. The average profitability of the industry was declining, but by early stages technological processes, it was higher than in the final ones, while in developed countries, with an increase in the degree of technological processing of the product, an increase in production profitability and gross value added is observed.

2. The smallest decline in output and investment falls on the complex
"resources, energy carriers and energy", the largest - for the investment complex, the complex of final products and industrial infrastructure. In many industries, even simple reproduction is not carried out, the rupture of cooperation ties is deepening,
technological chains are shortened and simplified.

3. The positive balance of the foreign trade balance is formed due to the export of raw materials and energy carriers. In the structure of exports and in the total volume of industrial production, the share of primary resources and products with a low level of processing is significantly increasing. In the structure of imports, more than 80% are engineering products, foodstuffs and consumer goods.

4. A sharp decline in the innovative activity of industrial enterprises persists - up to 3-5%. In such conditions, it is necessary to search new sequence local zones for the development of elements of the technological structure of the economy, which would provide:

Sustained and rapid economic growth;
- reducing structural and technological imbalances in the production and technological structure of the economy and, as a result, improving the quality of economic growth;
- guaranteeing national independence in providing the country with the most important products (strategic resources, food, consumer goods, etc.);
- improving the level and quality of life of the population;
- reconstruction of the mechanisms of orientation and reproduction of a quality workforce.

Many factors and conditions influence the formation of an innovative development strategy. External conditions include national interests, as well as the requirements of consumers of products (services) in domestic and foreign markets. Among the possible factors influencing the formation of the strategy, the following can be distinguished: resources, knowledge-intensive products and innovations.

Taking into account that at present the federal government economic development program is based on the export of natural resources, which makes it possible to have growth rates from 2% to 8% of GDP annually, it is advisable to analyze a different direction of economic development. This direction is called resource-innovative, and its implementation will increase the GDP growth rate by more than 14% annually. The development of Moscow can serve as an example. For a number of years now, GDP growth rates have
(GRP) account for more than 14%, and in 2002 in the defense industry of the capital (and this is 370 enterprises) GDP growth exceeded 20%. A creative (innovative) economic development strategy is based on a natural condition for an industrialized country - a consistent reduction in the share of exports of primary resources and energy carriers in order to increase their domestic efficient consumption, followed by an increase in exports of products with a high share of value added. As a result, the existing production and technological potential will become in demand, which will make it possible to create a promising technological structure of the industry based on the development of new technologies and innovations.

Modeled strategy of resource and innovation development industrial complexes The Russian Federation assumes a consistent increase in the depth and quality of technological processing and processing of extracted resources, which makes it possible to consistently involve in the production turnover and keep in it more high stakes primary resources compared to the distribution that prevailed in the 1990s. As a result, there will be a significant increase in the load of idle production

Capacities, increasing production volumes with the attraction of new investments. As a result, the science-intensive sector for the period from 2003 to 2013 can grow by about 2.4 times or more.

As a result, we list the key ideas of the resource-innovation strategy that ensure the harmonization of the technological structure by expanding production at the final stages of the technological cycle:

1. The strategy should harmonize scientific, technical, technological and economic development and the process of globalization by choosing the dominant geo-economic orientation of the country, realizing its comparative advantages within the framework of the international division of social labor, which provides for:

Formation of a "zone of special interests" of Russia in the CIS space, with differentiation by region: in the Baltic countries, Central and of Eastern Europe, the Near and Middle East and India, in the People's Republic of China and the countries of the Pacific region for the priority marketing of science-intensive, high-tech products;

Partial integration of the Russian economy into the Western, primarily European, as well as selective cooperation between the Russian high-tech potential and the relevant structures of the economy of developed countries (for example, the connection of the Russian defense industry to international scientific and technical and military-technical programs).

This will contribute to the harmonization of the technological structure National economy when optimizing sustainable foreign economic relations within a single structure and creating a mechanism for appropriating technological rent from the “zone of special interests” as an “external extension” of the national Russian economy, which can significantly increase GDP growth rates.

2. It is necessary to ensure the transformation of the already formed set of the most viable and efficient defense industry enterprises and high-tech civilian industries with a long-term perspective on world markets, within the framework of a single national innovation, scientific, technical and technological system focused on the development, production and sale as an advanced military, and high-tech civilian products. This does not exclude the preservation of separate highly specialized military productions. The orders of the Russian Ministry of Defense should be concentrated mainly on enterprises producing products that are competitive in foreign markets, or products under the State Defense Order.

3. Funding should be provided for the conservation of potentially promising, but temporarily unclaimed developments through the systematization and detailed design of support groups, in which succession of personnel will be ensured.

4. State support priorities of 7-10 critical metatechnologies (information technology, biotechnology, space, aviation, power engineering, etc.) that can become "engines of development" both for entire industry clusters and for the economy as a whole, should be systematically linked to each other and distributed in stages with the aim of consistent modernization of the entire complex of end industries, and not just the science-intensive, high-tech sector. Within the framework of these “super projects”, it is necessary to stake on the surviving scientific teams, which should be provided with expanded reproduction (including a significant increase in wages) in order to turn them into new scientific and technical schools. The latter could provide organizational and scientific support for the entire scientific and technological cycle
"basic research - applied research - practical development -
creation and development of innovative products”.

5. The strategy should provide a systematic linkage of the three possible types of sub-strategies: national leadership in system technologies, partnership participation in cooperation with leading companies and leadership in industry basic technologies, partnership participation in basic technologies for the production of individual components of the final product. In other words, in a number of industries (for example, in the aerospace industry), it is possible to allow selective integration of leading companies into production, scientific, technical and marketing networks of European and world level for certain types of products and thus join the process of forming regional and global technological alliances.

Complementary technological innovations- technological innovations carried out in connection with a product innovation that requires appropriate changes in existing production technologies ...

Scientific and technical innovations- (technological) innovations carried out in the field of production (new materials and other products for industrial purposes, methods of their production). There are two major types of scientific and technical (technological) innovations: ... ... Dictionary"Innovative activity". Terms of innovation management and related fields

innovation- 1. Something new, newly invented, widely used in Everyday life. 2. Technological innovations in industry and agriculture that significantly increase labor productivity and contribute to scientific and technical ... Geography Dictionary

Process innovation- (technological) use of new technologies and new technical means to launch new or significantly improved products, as well as to launch traditional products and provide existing services. The real structure... Explanatory dictionary "Innovative activity". Terms of innovation management and related fields

Organizational and managerial innovations- innovations in the organization management system related to the optimization of the organization of the management subsystem, systems and methods of management of production, technological, financial, economic, social personnel, logistics and ... ... Explanatory dictionary "Innovative activity". Terms of innovation management and related fields

INNOVATIONS- (from lat. innovo to update) innovations in the field of production and services (inventions, new technologies, methods of organizing work, etc.), introduced in order to increase production efficiency and increase profits. The innovative update is… … Great current political encyclopedia

Technological core innovation- a kind of innovation that forms the basis of large technological systems ... Explanatory dictionary "Innovative activity". Terms of innovation management and related fields

The actual costs, expressed in cash, associated with the implementation of various types of innovative activities carried out across the organization. Technological innovation costs include general (current and capital) costs, ... ... Official terminology

Forum "Open Innovations"- Moscow International Forum for Innovative Development Open Innovations Moscow International Forum for Innovative Development Open Innovations Basic information Years ... Wikipedia

7. In industrial production, product innovations include the development and introduction into production of technologically new and significantly technologically improved products. A technologically new product is a product whose ... ... Official terminology

Depending on the specifics and place of use, several types of innovations are distinguished.

Technological innovation

Technological innovations are new ways of making products, new technologies for their production. They create the basis for the development of industry and the technological re-equipment of the industry. With regard to the field of education, such innovations relate to various technical means and equipment used in training. From the standpoint of didactics, the introduction of the information environment and software has introduced a huge number of new opportunities. Computer technologies, due to their speed and large memory reserves, are fundamentally new means of learning. They allow you to implement many types of environments for problem-based learning, personality, build various schemes of dialogue modes and individual approaches in teaching and learning.

Methodical innovations

Methodical innovations - these are innovations in the field of methods of education and upbringing, teaching and learning, organization of the educational process. They are the most common and characteristic type of innovation in the field of education, covering the process of teaching the natural sciences and humanities from preschool education to higher education, training and retraining of personnel.

In practice, methodological innovations are often associated with organizational innovations. They occur in an educational situation, when the planned goal is generally clear, but the methods and means of its implementation require additional research. This type of innovation dominates in private methods, is less common in didactics and the theory of education, and is practically not found in works on the history of pedagogy.

Organizational innovations

They relate to the development of new forms and methods of labor organization, as well as innovations involving changes in the ratio of spheres of influence (both vertically and horizontally) of structural units, social groups or individuals. In particular, the issues of recruiting various classes and groups, ways of working in classes, groups, school and extracurricular groups.

So, for example, in 2001, a decision was made to create the so-called “vision protection classes” in general education and special (correctional) general education institutions, in which conditions are created for continuous education, education and protection of the eyesight of students, pupils with visual impairments of primary and secondary school age. The class capacity is up to 12 people, for children with a complex defect - up to 5 people.

Another example is the creation of compensatory learning classes, i.e. classes that are created in educational institutions in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation "On Education", based on the principles of humanization of the educational process, differentiation and individualization of education. The purpose of the organization of compensatory classes is the creation of general educational programs for children with learning difficulties that are adequate to their characteristics, which make it possible to prevent maladjustment in the conditions of a general educational institution.

The main indicator of the selection of children in classes of compensatory education is the insufficient degree of readiness to study in a general education institution, expressed in a low level of psychological (including general personal immaturity) and psychophysiological prerequisites, among which are determined, first of all, signs of socio-pedagogical neglect, as well as weakly expressed symptoms of organic insufficiency or somatic weakness (increased exhaustion, lack of formation of voluntary forms of activity, mild disturbances in attention and purposefulness, etc.).

The development of technology in the last quarter of a century has greatly changed our way of life and communication style. But no invention has changed our lives as much as the advent of the Internet age, according to a panel of experts who were invited by CNN to compile a list of the 25 best inventions.

In 1980 there were no mobile phones, people got their information from books, and when a person wanted to buy the latest music records, he went to a record store. Today we can get all this without leaving home, using the Internet.

"For a long time, people thought you had to go somewhere to get information - to a bookstore or a library, or go to a shaman," says Scott Shamp, director of the New Media Institute at the University of Georgia, U.S. "But now, with the development of new mobile and wireless technologies, information is becoming your companion."

In the era information technologies quick access to information is the main condition for development. Technological innovation has revolutionized a number of industries.

The Internet has allowed technology-savvy music lovers to influence the music industry and bring about change in the music business.

Text messages, which are transmitted by mobile phones, have introduced written communication into widespread use.

The presence of a computer in the home of almost every American has become a key factor in the development of new technologies (the computer ranked fifth in the list of the best technological innovations).

But having a computer at home is not enough. We want to use technological advances not only at home, but also in any other place. Therefore, today people can use wireless internet in cafes, airports, universities and many other places.

As the use of computers in the world grows, the "brains" of the computer - the processors - are shrinking in size. Computer chips ranked ninth on the list of technological innovations. Today, a chip that fits on a fingertip can store a large number of information.

The ability to store a large amount of information in mobile phones or digital cameras(number 10 on the list) makes technological innovations compact.

But as Internet technologies improve, so do the viruses and spam that accompany them (number 20).

In the early days of the Internet, the World Wide Web looked like heaven without a snake. But today we are stuck in the problems created by various scammers and viruses on the Internet that have created traps that can disable your computer and even steal your personal information.

In response to this threat, an entire industry has emerged to protect computer users from spam and viruses.

Technological innovation has also changed the field of entertainment. Satellite TV and radio (number 13) has expanded the choices for people. The appearance of the remote remote control(number 21) allowed viewers to easily switch from channel to channel.

There has been a big leap forward in video game technology. In the early 80s, during the first wave of video game popularity, there was a popular game in which a small yellow circle (Pas Man) "swallowed" dots on a computer screen. And today, the video game industry has a turnover of 10 billion dollars a year, and realistic games are released that invite players to fantasy worlds, to the world of sports and even to war (number 24 on the list).

People who wanted to watch TV programs or play new video games had a desire to have bigger and better TV screens. Technology has met this need with plasma TVs, HDTVs, and IMAX theaters.

Many of the innovations that have changed our lives came from science labs. Scientists have deciphered the genetic composition of many organisms (number 7), which led to the development of biotechnology - the science of management genetic material organism.

DNA analysis (number 14) allowed the reunion of lost children and their parents after the tsunami in Southeast Asia. Genetic testing allowed American police to catch serial killer from the city of Wichita, Kansas, who committed 10 murders in 30 years.

New technologies are changing the way crimes are investigated and criminals are found. While technological innovation is not yet as widespread in law enforcement practices as shown in television programs on the topic of crime.

Biometrics - automated methods of identifying a person or verifying an identity based on physiological or behavioral characteristics (for this purpose, information about a person, such as fingerprints and facial features, is digitized) - became number 16 on the list, animal cloning - number 22.

Rising oil prices have led to increased interest in alternative fuel engines (number 3). The most popular are hybrid cars - cars that use at least two sources of energy (usually electricity and gasoline).

Some inventions are not related to the latest technologies but also contributed greatly to changing our lives. Among them is a lamp daylight, toilet and shower. They jointly received number 17 on the list.

In industrial production, the advent of robots has made it possible to do work faster and cheaper. Robots, as well as computer simulation technologies in manufacturing, were number 23 on the list.

Number 12 was assigned to a fiber optic cable - the thinnest glass threads through which images and information are transmitted from best quality than conventional cable and wires. Fiber optics improved the quality of telephone communications and made it possible to expand the capacity of telephone networks.

The development of technology and the Internet have changed the way we conduct financial transactions and use banking services (number 8 on the list).

"It has become very convenient - you can check your bank account, credit card, your financial balance using the Internet, any time of the day, any day of the week," says Jim Smith, vice president of Wells Fargo, an Internet services company. .

The development of military technology (number 2) has changed the way wars are fought. Satellites help bombs hit targets, robots clear mines in Iraq and explore caves in Afghanistan.

Although the patent for laser technologies (number 6) was obtained in 1960, these technologies received practical use only many years later, in medicine and in recording and playing CDs and DVDs.

In space exploration (number 11), a super-powerful telescope allowed us to see galaxies located more than 12 billion light-years from earth. Automatic spaceships landed on Mars.

Other innovations on the list include a battery (number 19), weather forecasting (number 25), and a scanning microscope that allows you to see tiny objects in 3D, such as the head of a fly.

1. Wireless technology
2. Defense technologies
3. Alternative technologies
4. Biotechnology
5. Computers
6. Lasers
7. Genome
8. Global finance
9. Processors
10. Digital Storage Devices
11. Space
12. Optical fiber
13. Satellite radio and television
14. DNA analysis
15. Video games
16. Biometrics
17. Energy and water saving technologies
18. Scanning microscope
19. Batteries
20. Anti-spam technologies
21. Remote controls
22. Animal cloning
23. Technologies of computer modeling
24. Screens with a large diagonal
25. Weather Prediction Technologies