From a Western perspective, the fifth category of 

 innovation organization identified by Taksir is per- 

 haps the most interesting. This group is comprised 

 of what can best be described as profit maximizing 

 engineering or management consultant firms. They are 

 created and sustained through the private initiative 

 of technological entrepreneurs seeking to exploit S&T 

 advances. Offering a broad profile of services, these 

 organizations exist essentially outside the formal 

 economic system and beyond official planning and con- 

 trol. Paradoxically, this is both their greatest 

 strength and their greatest weakness. In accord with 

 the initial decentralizing spirit of the 1965 econom- 

 ic reform, more than a dozen of these new technical 

 firms sprung up across the USSR. They included, for 

 example, Fakel (The Torch) in Novosibirsk, Novator 

 (Innovator) in Baku, Iskra (The Spark) in Tomsk, Po- 

 isk (Search) in Severodonetsk, and Temp (Tempo) in 

 Moscow. By the early 1970s, however, most of them 

 were forced to close their doors. Others continue to 

 lead a semi-legal life. In general, these institu- 

 tions have not been stable and surviving additions 

 to the Soviet S&T establishment. This is not because 

 they have been inefficient but, on the contrary, be- 

 cause their success and viability have not been ac- 

 ceptable in ideological and political terms. 



Indicative of the nature and fate of these entre- 

 preneurial ventures is the "tale of the Torch. " 7 ^ 

 Fakel was set up by a few young scientists-entrepre- 

 neurs in 1966. It had no budget, no material sup- 

 plies, no paid staff, and no office space. After 

 compiling a list of prospective consultants and their 

 specialties, the founders simply set up headquarters 

 in a dormitory of the University of Novosibirsk and 

 began soliciting contracts. Consultants would be se- 

 lected to work on problems in their spare time. Var- 

 ious organizations were paid for the use of their 

 equipment and facilities during non-working hours. 

 The Torch received 3.5 million rubles from 263 con- 

 tracts for the period up to June 1970. Allegedly, 

 the innovations introduced by it resulted in a sav- 

 ings of 35 million rubles. These included the devel- 

 opment of an optimal plan for forest exploitation in 



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