Novosibirsk Province, a system of computer analysis 

 of seismic materials for a local geographical expedi- 

 tion, and an experimental model of a Torch-built 

 swamp vehicle for oil exploration in Western Siberia. 

 Other projects were in such fields as gold extraction, 

 the use of manure, and the development of control de- 

 vices for the Novosibirsk Power Station. Despite 

 support from the Presidium of the Siberian Division 

 of the Academy of Sciences, not to mention the local 

 Komsomol authorities under whose wing Fakel formally 

 operated, however, this efficient but unconventional 

 organization came under strong attack and eventually 

 closed down in May 1971. '^ 



One of the few firms of this kind to have survived 

 (in modified form) is Novator . Formed in 1967 and re- 

 organized by leaders of the Azerbaidzhan Republic in 

 1971, it has since been put under dual subordination 

 to the Azerbaidzhan Ministry of Local Economy and the 

 State Committee on Inventions and Discoveries. Basi- 

 cally, the firms seeks and screens relatively simple 

 "orphaned inventions" from institutes throughout the 

 USSR that cannot exploit them. By 1976 Novator was 

 doing an annual business of over a million rubles. 

 Since its creation the firm has developed and dissem- 

 inated more than 120 innovations. Some of these have 

 been awarded state medals, and others have been dis- 

 played at the Leipzig international trade fair.'" 



Scientists in particular attempt recurrently to 

 revitalize and legitimize these entrepreneurial firms. 

 Recently in the Academy's main economic journal Tak- 

 sir and M. Krasnokutskiy argued that these institu- 

 tions were viable and desirable. They urged that 

 these products of private initiative be turned into 

 state organizations with a firm legal basis.'' The 

 central issue is the institutionalization, if not bu- 

 reaucratization, of entrepreneurship . The problem is 

 how to preserve these efficient innovating forms with- 

 out destroying their spontaneity, independence, and 

 elan vital — the very foundation of their success. 

 Some Soviet specialists recognize that entrepreneur- 

 ship is frequently associated with specific and spe- 

 cial personality traits. Like R. M. Shteinbok, they 



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