Are Russian Grassroots Innovations in Line with the Global Agenda: Evidence from the Educational Innovation Contest

Insights about the future is an essential aspect of decision-making at different levels, including national education policy (Van der Duin et al., 2007). The belief that education system will continue following the same track is quite inaccurate given the rapid growth of initiatives contributing to changes in educational practices (Ballantine et al., 2017; Gidley, 2008). Innovations are commonly defined in two domains based on the pattern of occurrence. One sources of large-scale transformations of the education system are public policies and proposed reforms (DiMaggio, Powell, 1983). Alongside, the so-called grassroots innovation are initiatives, which do not come from governmental, scientific or educational institutions or large corporations, but rather represent the activities of individuals (Koroleva, Khavenson, 2015). It would be a great exaggeration to say that the connection between the top and grassroots level does not exist. The international organizations build their recommendation, agendas based on aggregated, but still a picture of the local situation. With the help of a range of technique, they try to engage the stakeholders’ opinion into the process (Grek, 2009). Individuals involved into innovation activities also perceive the vision of international organizations either directly or with national governance as a mediator (OECD, 2018). However, communication is somewhat restricted. The transition involves considerable time loss and meets a range of institutionalized barriers (Schneckenberg, 2009). The actors often show distrust and poor understanding of initiatives, which come from the top (Koroleva, Khavenson, 2015). One should really question if the recommendation reach a school in a way expected with international organizations. The development of the system largely depends on how the two components of the innovation activity interact. Hypothetically, grassroots and top-level innovation can operate independently, similar or divergent direction. What is connected to different policy strategies: one seeks for grassroots innovation involvement into the process while alternatively it is better let them occupy autonomous niche. Thus, we believe it is timely and vital to compare the visions of innovation priorities at the grassroots and top levels. Foresight has recently become a popular method among corporate, government planners and academics within the aim of trend investigation (Popper, 2008).