erally lagged. Such notions as "innovation process," 

 "technology transfer," and "commercialization cycle," 

 which figure prominently in Western writings, are re- 

 latively unknown in the USSR. Soviet analysts, on 

 the contrary, tend to use terms like "research-produc- 

 tion cycle," "scientific and technological complex of 

 work," and "complex of preproduction work" to des- 

 cribe the sequencing, organization, and stimulation 

 of scientific R&D. For the most part, their concepts 

 have revolved around phase-dominant models of innova- 

 tion with emphasis on separate functions and individ- 

 ual work efforts performed in isolation from one an- 

 other and cut off from the application of results in- 

 to production. Only recently have they begun to take 

 a more process view of innovation with the focus on 

 final results and overall integration. 



Also only recently has a predominantly linear-caus- 

 al view of innovation been called into question. This 

 model emphasizes a relatively simple and orderly for- 

 ward flow of work from theoretical conception to 

 practical use. The notion that innovation involves 

 a complex and helix-like stream of events and stages 

 with significant feedback coupling is not commonly 

 held. Accordingly, various stages of work are planned 

 predominantly in sequence rather than simultaneously 

 and in parallel. The result is significant losses of 

 time between different phases and a lengthening of 

 the process as a whole. 3 



Though important strides have been made in recon- 

 ceptualizing R&D and in moving toward a more sophis- 

 ticated analytical base for deciding problems of sci- 

 entific choice, deficiencies remain. As two experts 

 on R&D note, "a number of questions in this complex 

 process have not yet been studied, and some have not 

 even been posed in the literature. "^ There is still 

 considerable ambiguity and inconsistency among Soviet 

 writers who describe and label the stages of the R&D 

 cycle. "No official methodological instructions by 

 Gosplan or the Central Statistical Administration are 

 available which delineate the precise stages," Nol- 

 ting points out. Moreover, he adds, the conceptual 

 division of stages is not necessarily followed in 



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