Innovation Voucher as a Tool to Promote the Development of Small and Medium Business: Prospects of the Russian Practice

The article presents findings from the research funded by the RFH grant «Development of voucher schemes to support innovative projects of small business». It provides an analysis of the legal status of micro, small, medium enterprises in the context of Russian legislation, considers the legal definition of the «voucher», as well as a need and an opportunity to use innovation voucher as a tool to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. The positive experience of applying an innovative voucher abroad gives grounds to believe that this tool can be successfully applied in the Russian practice to promote small and medium enterprises. However, replication of foreign experience in the absence of the analysis of possibility of adaptation of this instrument may entail the adoption of normative legal acts, which do not conform to the objective reality and, as a consequence, have no practical value and regulating forces. Based on the analysis performed, we can conclude that the innovation voucher has good prospects for effective application in the practice of stimulation of innovative activity in Russia.