Global Imperative, Local Realities: Unveiling Drivers of Industrial Robotization in Russian Manufacturing

The urgent imperative for policymakers globally is the widespread adoption of industrial robots, yet a consensus on the critical factors driving this adoption remains elusive. This paper investigates the determinants of robotization in manufacturing, uniquely examining both conventional and artificial intelligence–based (AI-based) robots. We emphasize the role of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and the state as key stakeholders in the robotization process. Specifically, we assess state ownership, government financial and organizational support, and public procurement. Our database is derived from a survey of 1716 manufacturing firms in Russia, and our empirical analysis employs probit and multinomial logit techniques. For the first time in the empirical literature, we demonstrate that conventional and AI-based robotization are characteristic of different enterprises. We find that state-owned and foreign-owned firms are more likely to use conventional robots. In contrast, AI-based robotization is prevalent among firms receiving public orders and financial support, whereas organizational support is more common among firms with conventional robotization. Our findings have significant policy implications, highlighting the importance of FDI and the state’s role through various instruments—ownership participation, financial support, and demand provision via state procurement—in advancing robotization in countries lagging in this domain. A key limitation of our study is the focus on correlations rather than causal relationships, as well as the use of data from 2018, before the shocks of the pandemic and extensive sanctions, which may have altered the drivers of robotization. Nonetheless, our results broaden the understanding of robotization determinants across different economic contexts and underscore the differences in determinants for conventional versus AI-based robots.