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Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal

Opinion Volume 13 Issue 3

Legal regulation of technological leadership: from term to discourse

Dinara B Minnigulova

Department of Law, St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Russia

Correspondence: Dinara B Minnigulova, Doctor of Sciences (Law), Associate Professor, Professor at the Department of Civil Law and Civil Procedure, Autonomus Nonprofit Organization of Higher Education «International Banking Institute named after Anatoliy Sobchak», St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Saint Petersburg, 198206, Pilyutova Pilot str., 1, Russia

Received: July 14, 2025 | Published: July 30, 2025

Citation: Minnigulova DB. Legal regulation of technological leadership: from term to discourse. Forensic Res Criminol Int J. 2025;13(3):131-134. DOI: 10.15406/frcij.2025.13.00448

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Abstract

Introduction: the article analyzes the term "technological leadership" as one of the national goals of the Russian Federation, designated by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2024 No. 309 «On the national Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2036». Purpose: based on the generalization of scientific views on the legal category of "technological leadership" to identify its essence and identify the prospects for its legal regulation, realizing the predictive function of the theory of state and law and the foundations of legal futurology. Methods: descriptive, comparative-legal; theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic. Private scientific methods were used: system analysis and the method of content analysis and interpretation of legal norms. Results: a critical understanding of the essence of the term "technological leadership" made it possible to identify its legal features and determine its true meaning. The author considers the definition of "technological leadership" to be the most relevant from the point of view of the concept of social constructivism as technological development. In addition, according to the author, building a hierarchy of regulatory legal acts on technological leadership is very difficult, because technological progress affects all relations in society and, consequently, its regulation is difficult to limit to several legal acts. That is why the author concludes that the ambiguity of the perception of technological development and the lack of uniform rules for the use of its achievements form an objective request for a common regulatory framework at both the national and international levels. Conclusions: based on the concept of convergence of private and public law, the author proposes to form a legal framework (norms-principles) of technological leadership in the Russian legal field, or rather technological development, primarily due to the uncertainty of the subject of legal regulation. It is possible to recommend as principles of technology policy formation: human-centricity of technologies; definition of ethical standards for artificial intelligence; international exchange of open data; creation of a common framework for technology control, consideration of threats and risks, etc.

Keywords: Global technological development, technological leadership, technological sovereignty of Russia, technological policy, principles of technological policy, proactive legal regulation.

Introduction

Russia's technological sovereignty is becoming important against the background of a serious restructuring of international trade, the building of a new architecture of the global technological system, as well as the simplification and development of technology transfer between states, and in some cases, for example, related to Russia and China, securitization of technological cooperation.1

The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Mishustin, at the strategic session on technological leadership on December 3, 2024, noted that existing and newly introduced national projects are the "framework" for ensuring technological leadership and its main components, because it is critically important for the country to gain independence from external technologies and supplies. The relevant legal regulation was worked out in a timely manner and incorporated into the draft federal law on technological policy2 (approx. The author is Federal Law No. 523-FZ dated 12/28/2024 "On Technological Policy in the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law on Technological Policy), adopted on 12/28/2024, in accordance with art. 30, enters into force 180 days after the date of its official publication). Also, from our point of view, it is logical for the Russian Prime Minister's statement to summarize all the lists of critical and end-to-end technologies. Introduce a classifier to track their development in different sectors. Many industry methods have been unified, as well as for assessing production readiness. To create a digital environment that will help representatives of science and industry to better understand each other's needs and capabilities.2

According to the definition of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, given in December 2024 in the federal law on technological policy (paragraph art. 3 of the Federal Law on Technological Policy), technological leadership of the Russian Federation – This is the technological independence of the Russian Federation, expressed in the development of domestic technologies and the creation of products using such technologies while maintaining national control over critical and end-to-end technologies based on its own technology development lines in order to export competitive high-tech products and (or) replace them in the domestic market with products based on obsolete ones and (or) foreign technologies, as well as the superiority of such technologies and products over foreign ones.3

According to Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2024 No. 309 "On the National Development Goals of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2036" (hereinafter Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on National Development Goals), which defines technological leadership as one of the national development goals of the country for the period up to 2030 and for the future until 2036.

Some targets and objectives for achieving this goal:

  1. Ensuring technological independence and the formation of new markets in such areas as bioeconomics, food security, unmanned aircraft systems, means of production and automation, transport mobility (including autonomous vehicles), data economics and digital transformation, artificial intelligence, new materials and chemistry, promising space technologies and services, new energy technologies (including atomic ones);
  2. By 2030, the level of gross value added in real terms and the index of production in the manufacturing industry will increase by at least 40% compared to the level of 2022;
  3. Ensuring that by 2030 the Russian Federation becomes one of the 10 leading countries in the world in terms of scientific research and development;
  4. An increase in domestic research and development costs to at least 2% of gross domestic product by 2030, including by increasing investments from private businesses for these purposes by at least two times.;
  5. An increase by 2030 in the share of domestic high-tech goods and services created on the basis of their own development lines in the total consumption of such goods and services in the Russian Federation by one and a half times compared to the level of 2023;
  6. An increase by 2030 in the revenue of small technology companies by at least seven times compared to the level of 2023.

In the combined interpretation of the Federal Law on Technological Policy and the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on national Development Goals, uncertainty arises in identifying the subject of legal regulation when we establish the content of the definition of technological leadership.

Let's highlight the main legislative elements of the legal definition of technological leadership:

  1. Technological independence of the Russian Federation;
  2. Development of domestic technologies;
  3. Creating products using such technologies;
  4. Maintaining national control over critical and end-to-end technologies based on our own technology development lines;
  5. Export of competitive high-tech products;
  6. Substitution of competitive high-tech products in the domestic market for products based on outdated and (or) foreign technologies;
  7. The superiority of such technologies and products over foreign ones;
  8. Formation of new markets in such areas as bioeconomic, food security, unmanned aircraft systems, means of production and automation, transport mobility (including autonomous vehicles), data economics and digital transformation, artificial intelligence, new materials and chemistry, promising space technologies and services, new energy technologies (including atomic ones);
  9. Increase in the level of gross value added in real terms and the index of production in the manufacturing industry;
  10. Ensuring the entry of the Russian Federation into the top 10 leading countries in the world in terms of scientific research and development;
  11. Increase in internal expenditures on research and development of gross domestic product, including through increased investments from private businesses;
  12. An increase in the share of domestic high-tech goods and services created on the basis of their own development lines in the total consumption of such goods and services in the Russian Federation;
  13. Increasing the revenue of small technology companies.

Based on the content and structural elements of the definition, the legal regulation of technological leadership is covered by all fundamental branches of Russian law and it is impossible to single out any one more or less isolated area, and therefore it is necessary to state the end-to-end legal nature of the definition of technological leadership, because technology covers all spheres of human activity, government and business. We believe it is possible to define technological leadership, or rather technological development, as the next round of industrialization (the fourth industrial revolution), the socio-economic development of the state.4

Discussion

All the mentioned norms on technological leadership demonstrate the lack of a unified approach to definition, and different approaches to its definition. In one case, it is a quantitative (financial, investment) approach, in another - a technological one, in the third – an economic one, in the fourth – a knowledge-intensive one, etc. All this makes it more difficult to build an orderly regulatory framework governing technological leadership.

To clarify the real meaning of the legal definition of "technological leadership", let us turn to the theory of international relations, because the idea of leadership is interesting only within the framework of global technological progress. The term technological leadership in the theory of international relations is identified as global technological development and is defined from the point of view of various schools of international relations theory. According to E.S. According to Zinovieva, the most common approach is social constructivism, where the object of research exists in the "agent–structure" paradigm, within which either the agent determines the nature and nature of global technological development, or the structure in which the agent is placed dictates actions in terms of security and foreign policy objectives. Historically, from the standpoint of social constructivism, technology has influenced institutions that mediate between the agent and the structure. At the same time, from the point of view of realism in the field of nuclear arms control and in the field of space technology regulation, fairly stable securitization and international security regimes have been formed. As noted by E.S. Zinovieva, technology should be considered both from the position of a leadership tool and from the point of view of humanitarian influence, "soft power".15 When the state offers tools for technological development, it becomes a model to follow. Medium- and long-term trends in technological development require building a new model of globalization, developing new approaches to solving emerging challenges and a higher level of dialogue on key issues of technological development. Let's agree that it is necessary to find a balance between populism and economic rationalism, which can only be established by fixing it at the regulatory level (approx. legal regulation), the development of a new model of globalization and the creation of new rules for international trade and investment.1

Technological leadership as a definition is the subject of constant discussion on various scientific and practical platforms. For example, at the plenary session of the Moscow International Education Salon "Man - the foundation of technological leadership", Sergey Plugotarenko, CEO of ANO Digital Economy, defined technological leadership as a concept that reflects the ability of a country, company or region to take a leading position in the development and implementation of advanced technologies that would help raise the standard of living of the population, strengthen national security and ensure stable economic development in the face of technological challenges thanks to technology Other participants noted the importance of human-centricity, i.e. technologies should be created only in the interests of humans.5 This thesis is a postulate of the effectiveness of public administration and requires consideration in the formation of the legal environment of technological leadership, or rather technological development.

Technological leadership and technology policy, as relatively new legal phenomena, need to be regulated ahead of time. What is possible to realize only through the implementation of the function of social forecasting and the predictive function of the science of the theory of state and law.14 A modern manifestation of the predictive function of the science of the theory of state and law is such a phenomenon as legal futurology. First of all, legal futurology or the futurology of law is associated with the need for proactive legal regulation due to the increased potential of threats and risks associated with the development of artificial intelligence (existential risks, anthropomorphizing of artificial intelligence, etc.), biotechnology (uterine replication, cyberization, etc.) and technology in general, all these phenomena are just part of The national goal is technological leadership in the sense of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on national Development Goals. Umnova-Konyukhova actively develops the concept of futurization of constitutional law,6,7 and V.I. Kruss believes that the concept of constitutional futurology, which takes into account the need to maintain adherence to the rule of law even in a situation of increasing critical threats and challenges generated by technological and social innovations, can offer advanced models of regulatory regulation of public systems.8 T.S. Kasimov suggests studying the concepts of the future state through the prism of futurology and suggests distinguishing the futurology of law and the futurology of the state.9 K.V. Agamirov comprehensively investigated the problems of legal forecasting, defining it as a systematic study of the prospects for the development of legal phenomena and processes at certain levels: strategies for the development of legislation and the legal system as a whole (first level), specific industries and institutions (second level), legal behavior (third level)10 and others .

M. V. Zaloilo defines proactive law-making (legal regulation) as a condition for the effectiveness of socio-economic and technological development of the state11 at the same time, this author highlights the potential risks of advanced lawmaking, such as the urgency and "aggressiveness" of legal regulation, unjustified coverage of the scope of other regulators (religion, morality, self-regulation), "replication" of laws, invasion by-laws in the sphere of legislative regulation. The purpose of overcoming and avoiding these risks is a tool for legal monitoring carried out throughout the "life cycle" of a legal norm by a wide range of subjects. A. N. Zhane believes that the introduction of advanced lawmaking will lead to regulatory stability, which is an important factor in the investment attractiveness of the economy and the development of its industries.12

Conclusion

The Federal Law "On Technological Policy" is the result of advanced lawmaking and, in general, is the result of promising legal regulation, as it is aimed at achieving a state of legal balance in matters of technological development and technological sovereignty of Russia, it contains such instruments of advanced regulation as: legal experiments (experimental legal regimes - regulatory sandboxes), legal monitoring (assessment of the effectiveness of financing technology development projects), a risk-based approach is used, the right to reasonable risk is consolidated, etc. At the same time, the ambiguity of the perception of technological development and the lack of uniform rules for the use of its achievements form an objective request for a common regulatory framework1 both at the national and international levels.13 That is why in the Russian legal field it is necessary to form the legal framework (norms-principles) of technological leadership, or rather technological development (technological policy in general) in order to achieve global leadership, including due to the uncertainty of the subject of legal regulation.16 The principles as an element are missing from the Federal Law on Technology Policy.

As principles of technological policy, it is possible to recommend:

  1. Technologies of human-centricity;
  2. Defining and following ethical standards of technologies, including those for artificial intelligence;
  3. Exchange (conversion, transfer) of open data at the national and international levels;
  4. Creation of a common framework for technology control, threat and risk accounting.
  5. Providing technologies for the socio-economic needs of society and the state (socio-economic conditionality).

To effectively coordinate the process of implementing technological policy, it is necessary to create a resource center for technological leadership in the bowels of the Ministry of Economic Development, which on an ongoing basis will coordinate technological policy, monitor the potential of national technological development and the possibilities of increasing it to achieve global technological leadership.

Acknowledgments

None.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare there is no conflict of interest.

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