Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Measures to Support the Import of Innovations and Science through Startup Visa Scheme and Governmental Programmes (Cases of Russia, the UK and the EU)

Scientific and technological progress is one of the main engines of the economy of any state. In many ways, it is new technologies and materials, innovative production and business processes that have helped the leading powers maintain a high level of competitiveness over the past decades, both at the level of individual industries and at the level of the entire state and economy. The main creators of such innovations have always been entrepreneurs and scientists, who contributed to the generation of new ideas, their development, testing and implementation. Today the competition for entrepreneurs and scientists-inventors has reached its historical maximum. It is obvious that one of the most important conditions for incessant scientific and technological progress is the presence of human (intellectual) capital. That is why countries are actively introducing various financial and non-financial instruments and measures to support entrepreneurs, scientists, as well as the import of innovations. A competent policy of state stimulation of the import of innovations is the key to the success of a number of countries, the leader among which is the United States, whose achievements in the scientific and technical sphere were obtained by the efforts of foreign developers, engineers and researchers, including those from Russia and the USSR. In this master's thesis, a comparative analysis and assessment of the effectiveness of financial and non-financial measures used in the EU countries, the UK and Russia will be carried out to stimulate the import of innovations and science. As such measures will be investigated: start-up and business visas, programs for relocation and scouting of innovative businesses, subsidies and grants for innovative companies, information tools and programs for quick adaptation and support of foreign entrepreneurs.