Pobol, Anna | Belarus | IFZ | Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum für Technik, Arbeit und Kultur

Anna Pobol was born in 1979 in Minsk. She entered the Economic Department of the Belarusian State University in 1996, and graduated with distinction as an economist and lecturer in economics in 2001. For the preparation of her thesis she received support from the Stefana Batorego Foundation for a stay at the Warsaw Higher School of Economy, from October 2000 to January 2001.

Her studies at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, from April 2001 to August 2001 added an international dimension to her thesis on "Innovation Activity as a Condition of Economic Development". In December 2001 Anna Pobol successfully passed the entrance PhD examinations for the Institute for Economic Research at the Ministry of Economy of Belarus. Her doctoral thesis theme "Formation and State Regulation of the National Innovation System” has been approved. For the goals of this study, the research visit to the Institute of Technological and Innovation Management at Technische Universität Berlin from June 2003 to November 2003 was financially supported by DAAD.

From December 2003 till August 2004 Anna Pobol will be a visiting fellow at the IAS-STS for her project "Spin-off firms in the National Innovation System: Social Consensus".

Project at IAS-STS: Spin-off Firms in National Innovation System: Social Consensus

Case studies with opportunistic data collection of innovative technology-based enterprises founded by public research laboratories (Research-based Spin-off firms - RSOs) provide the empirical basis of the project. The processes of their emergence, performance and relationships to the parent institutions and industry are examined with the aim of finding niches for RSOs in a National Innovation System (NIS). The core thesis claimed in the project considers the emergence of a strata of innovating-for-market researchers to be a valuable linking chain strengthening the weak "university-science-industry" linkage bonds. Their role is not merely restricted to technology transfer, however, it is a remarkable stage in institutional transformations required for developing a coherent and sustainable NIS (both in an economic and social sense).

The innovation competencies and culture fostered by them in an innovation system serve as the catalyst for developing a knowledge-based economy. The objects under consideration are approached from the historical and socio-economic perspective with the research being based on a system methodology. The reasoning behind the relationships implies the institutional angle of viewing in order to explain the corresponding distribution of functions within the system of innovation and the interests behind these relationships, especially in a transitive economy. The fact that RSOs are studied under conditions of formation of the National Innovation System from the state-controlled S&T sphere in a transformation economy such as that of Belarus adds a topical dimension to the project. It is an issue of burning importance for the transitive economies that they learn to apply the benchmarking experiences obtained in the organisation of an innovation fostering system. The case focused on in the project also presents a trial ground with fertile soil for the mature (European) economies to implement novel institutional structures for the knowledge-based organisation of society.

Selected Publications

Pobol A. I.: Building a Sustainable National Innovation System: Case of Belarus. Conference Proceedings of the International Summer Academy on Technology Studies "Technology and the Public". 7-13 July 2002, Deutschlandsberg, IFF/IFZ (Interuniversity Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture), Graz, Austria. p. 191-200.

Pobol A. I.: Scientific and Technical Position of the Countries and the Development of World Economic Links. Machinebuilding and Technosphere of the 21st Century. Proceedings of the IX International scientific and technical conference in Sevastopol on the 9-15 September 2002. Donetsk: Donetsk Scientific and Technical University, 2002. - Volume 2. p. 241-247. (in Russian)

Gordienko A. I., Pobol A.I., Pobol I.L.: Spin-off Firms Around the Academic Institute as a Form of Development for Innovation Networks in Belarus. Actual Issues of Innovation Activity Development. VII International Scientific and Practical Conference in Alushta, Ukraine, on 16-21 September 2002. In print. (in Russian)

Pobol A. I.: Institutional Aspects of Organising a Sustainable National Innovation System in a Transitive Economy. III. International Scientific Conference on Problems of Forecasting and State Regulation of the Social and Economical Development, 10-11 October 2002, Minsk. In print. (in Russian)

Pobol A.I.: Development of Scientific and Technological System in Belarus. The NATO Advanced Training Course in Science Policy "Supporting the Development of R&D and the Innovation Potential of Post-Socialist Countries", 3-5 April 2003, Erevan, Armenia. In print. (in English)

Pobol A. I.: Corporate Sustainability Tuning of National Innovation System: Research-Based Spin-Offs in Belarus. Conference Proceedings of the International Summer Academy on Technology Studies "Corporate Sustainability". 13-19 July 2003, Deutschlandsberg, IFF/IFZ (Interuniversity Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture), Graz, Austria.