Megapolis, technopolis are Greek words denoting quite modern concepts. In Russian, these terms have been actively used recently. Moreover, if everything is clear with the metropolis, then technopolis is a rather rare word and therefore not understandable to everyone.
Not new at all
As you know, "polis" in Greek is a city. The prefix "techno" speaks for itself. Tech City. What does it mean? Is it a city with a developed technical infrastructure? Industrial city? The city is ultra-modern, stuffed with electronics and other marvels of technology?
In fact, technopolises are not uncommon in Russia. They have existed for a long time, everyone knows about them. They just didn't have the same name before. Indeed, in fact, a technopolis is an ordinary scientific town. There were a sufficient number of them in the Soviet Union, and after the collapse of the country, a considerable part of this heritage went to Russia.
What is a technopolis?
Technopolis is a city dedicated to science and high technology. A separate housing complex, entirely focused on science and only on it. Such technopolises arose around complex science-intensive complexes. These could be institutes or research centers of various specializations,extremely important technical objects requiring a large number of scientific personnel. In a word, in the center of the technopolis there is some science-intensive core.
So there should be a large concentration of scientists in this place. It is impossible to find such a number of scientists of the required profile among the inhabitants of a single region. This means that they need to be invited, and not for short-term work under a contract, but on a permanent basis. To do this, they need to provide housing. Scientists are people too, they have families and children, they buy food and things, get sick, go to the cinema. Therefore, the technopolis must provide its residents with everything they need. Kindergartens, schools, shops, various institutions and organizations. Technopolis is a full-fledged cultural, residential, research and production, educational zone, created specifically to meet the needs of the employees of the parent company.
Silicon Valley
Technopolis cities exist all over the world. The most famous of them is the legendary Silicon Valley. First, Stanford University was founded, then, 10 years later, a science and technology park. By 1960, there were already 25 high-tech firms there. By 1980, there were already 36 such parks. Research centers and laboratories were overgrown with a residential area, the necessary infrastructure, and a world-famous technopolis arose. The state support program played a significant role in this.
It is the governmentwas able to interest Californian businesses in high-tech research.
Profit Science
Tax breaks only applied to science companies, and many firms have jumped on this loophole in an attempt to minimize payouts. They gave large orders to institute laboratories and research centers, while receiving a double benefit: they reduced tax payments and increased their own technological potential.
The current situation was also very useful for the institutes: financial injections and huge orders made it possible to attract the best specialists and expand the research base.
Of course, the state also won. Yes, the income from the taxation of entrepreneurs was less. But scientific developments paid for by businessmen led to a scientific and technological leap. To this day, the United States occupies a leading position in the field of electronics and programming, and this is billions and billions of dollars annually.
Japanese technopolises
With the creation of Silicon Valley, the world realized the benefits of such an organization of the scientific and technological process. Technopolises began to emerge all over the planet. England, France, China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand. The technopolises of Japan are distinguished by a special scope. This country has neither a vast territory nor natural resources. There is nowhere to place large-scale production, and the existing facilities have already reached the maximum level of development and were deprived of the opportunity to develop further. What was needed was not a quantitative, but a qualitative leap. Ideathe technopolis was the best fit for this.
The country's government followed the proven path - promised tax breaks. The country's leadership announced the areas of scientific activity that the inhabitants of technopolises were supposed to develop. The prefectures turned to institutes and universities located on their territories with a request to draw up plans for the creation of specialized technopolises. The best projects received the promised tax breaks and subsidies.
This is how Japan achieved a leading position in electronics and robotics.
Akademgorodoki USSR
In the USSR, scientific campuses and academic campuses existed for a long time. But each of them is a real technopolis. Moscow paid much attention to the technical development of the country. Space technologies, for example, are characterized by monstrous science intensity and resource intensity. A lot of attention was paid to this area of knowledge in the USSR. Each cosmodrome is thousands of scientists, tens of thousands of workers. A real technopolis that ensures the operation of the most complex scientific and industrial complex.
There were academic campuses engaged in military and medical developments, scientific campuses where physicists, chemists, electronic engineers lived. Yes, cybernetics in the USSR was considered the prodigal daughter of capitalism. But this in no way meant that science did not develop in the country. Financing various kinds of research has always been a significant share of public spending in the USSR.
In a sense, such an organizationscientific work was even better. The branches of science were financed, which are absolutely not interesting for business, and do not promise any income in the foreseeable future. The contribution of the inhabitants of the USSR academic campuses to world science is invaluable.
Skolkovo Project
Now a new technopolis is being created in Russia. Moscow, and the exact suburbs, will become the location of a huge research complex, which will employ thousands of scientists. The project to create an analogue of Silicon Valley in Skolkovo has long passed from the planning stage to the implementation stage. It will be the largest scientific and innovation center engaged in research in the field of high technology, electronics and space research.
The regional development strategy involves the allocation of significant amounts for such projects. Yes, there are many areas requiring immediate financial assistance from the state. And most of them seem more urgent than high technology. But, as the experience of other countries shows, this is an erroneous position. It is necessary to invest in science and development in the same way as it is necessary to allocate part of the grain for crops. Yes, you can eat now - but then there will be nothing to reap.
