Commercialization of Scientific Activity at a Higher Technical School of East Ukraine in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century
Commercialization of Scientific Activity at a Higher Technical School of East Ukraine in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: A study of the commercialization of the results of fundamental and applied researches by scientists in technical institutions of Ukraine was carried out. Based on the processing of archival materials, the activities of the representatives of the higher technical school in commercial projects, consulting and expert activities were studied, and the performance of this work was evaluated. On the example of the oldest technical institution of East Ukraine, the Kharkiv Practical Technological Institute (today the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”), it is demonstrated that attempts to implement the consulting and entrepreneurial sphere in a higher technical school in Ukraine were made already at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. T his institution of higher education had a unique character. Evidently, its exclusively “practical” approach to organizing the educational process outlined the strengthening of practical training of engineers and conducting in-depth research. Commercial activities were not widespread but became an integral part of the professional activity of the teaching staff. T he study showed that such business activities were not a common practice. The authors argue that the activities were carried out by a group of researchers who formed an informal professional institutional community, based on their own knowledge, experience, and global authority. V. Kirpichov and G. Latyshev effectively implemented commercial projects by order of the railroad authorities. Successful entrepreneurial projects were implemented by the chemists M. Valyashko, O. Lidov, M. Zuev, the physicist O. Pogorelko, and the electrical engineers M. Klobukov, V. Kiyanica and P. Kopnyaev. Competitiveness of the inventions of these scientists was an important factor in the development of scientific and technological progress.

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