Benefits for IT specialists will not help to push through Russian import substitution in IT sector

Unprecedented tax breaks for Russian IT companies - software developers, preferential mortgages and other financial preferences will make life of programmers easier, but will not set the process of import substitution in the industry on track. Such a statement was made by the head of the International Center for Information Technologies and Cybersecurity, the head of the Association of Police Trade Unions Alexei Lobarev.

“The Russian government should reformat the functionality of the entire industry and focus on the release of a single IT solution for the resumption of Russian production. Today, unprecedented benefits are pouring on the heads of software developers, but we have completely forgotten about engineers at factories,”said Lobarev.

Hardware first

7 years ago, a course to search for innovations in domestic IT production was set by the order of the Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media of Russia (Mintsifry of the Russian Federation). But the dream of the import substitution in IT sector did not come true. Under the conditions of Western sanctions in Russia, the issue of regular supplies of high-quality equipment and raw materials for its production has become acute. In order to provide the domestic processor with its own operating system, the authorities must find a way to provide the software with an adequate amount of hardware,” says Alexey Lobarev.

According to the Chief Expert of the National Committee of Public Control, the experience of China will help to revive import substitution in the industry: to copy projects of ready-made solutions from other countries, their production line and factories using technological IT reengineering. The main thing is not to throw foreign suppliers, with whom good relations have been maintained, under the bus.

“There are two stereotypes. The first is that none of the domestic factories will be able to substitute foreign suppliers. I work with manufacturers in the industry, and I don't see any confirmation. There is also an opinion that if you have a ready-made idea, a concept in the form of a foreign IT product, you can add spare parts from China and Russian software. It's a delusion. We will not be able to guarantee the quality, because we will have to assemble on someone else's base. In addition, there are no component parts in Russia now,”the expert summed up.

Social environment is more important than benefits

The Russian “program” will work on foreign hardware only if a new ideology grows around the new product, Alexey Lobarev believes.

According to the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, since the beginning of the Ukrainian special operation, about 70,000 IT specialists have left Russia, and more will leave in April.

However, it is possible to reduce personnel losses in companies by means of the remote work format.

“IT specialists are people of a specific culture and worldview who need a specific social environment and infrastructure. Today they do not see the conditions for their comfortable life in Russia,” said Alexei Lobarev. “Modern representatives of the IT sector do not fit into our society, so they leave for the technology parks of Taiwan, Japan, Holland, where far-sighted businessmen create a whole world for them, satisfying almost all their needs. In a comfortable environment, in a circle of like-minded people, Russian programmers feel happy. They feel at home being abroad, settle down, create their own world that inspires them to work. Thus, for example, young Europeans are building analogues of Silicon Valley in Portugal.”

The expert notes that in order to stop the brain drain, it is necessary to create conditions that will motivate Russian programmers to live in their homeland.

And this is not only a decent salary - the professional community lacks centers of attraction, domestic "Silicon Valleys" and technoparks.

“We are not talking about the beautiful Skolkovo center. Unfortunately, its work did not justify itself, and the budget money was wasted, - said the interlocutor of Rusbankrot. “We need a mini-city with an IT ideology that will provide IT specialists and their families with the degree of comfort they want to have. I am sure that the Russian budget will be able to meet their needs.”

“Crimea can become an alternative geographic platform to the places of attraction in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus,” Alexey Lobarev said. “In addition to the financial benefits for specialists, the accelerated development of the industry will be facilitated by the mode of doing business in the territory of the special economic zone created in the republic and the city of Sevastopol seven years ago.”

IT import substitution strategy

The package of measures of the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation, the expansion of the governmental grant program for the creation of solutions in the field of information technologies, the decree of the President of Russia on measures to ensure the accelerated development of the industry - all this, according to the head of the Association of Police Trade Unions Alexei Lobarev, promises to bring results as early as 2022, if the main condition is met. The success of import substitution depends on how soon the state, together with the expert community, develops a competent strategy based on the support of all market players.

“Previously, such a strategy was developed by the owners of companies, at their own discretion. The IT market was built by private hands and was not a priority for the state,” Lobarev explained. “Other countries skillfully produced computers and software for us. Now the industry needs strong support and active participation from the federal and regional authorities.”

On April 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of an interdepartmental commission of the Russian Security Council to ensure technological sovereignty in the development of the information technologies infrastructure. It was headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Department Dmitry Medvedev. The head of the International Committee for the Security of the Digital Economy A. Lobarev expressed confidence that in the current socio-economic conditions, the commission has every chance to implement an effective state program to support the industry. Then the domestic hardware will become a reliable IT-platform, on which the "IT-brains" of Russian production will firmly stand.

Earlier, the business asked to extend support measures to all employees of the IT companies.