Russia, Disney World say nyet to the gas-powered shoe

Published 20 March 2007

An inventor bemoans his country’s inhospitality to commercial development; western venture capital firms ignore the country’s inventors, but new technology parks are planned

Nothing is easy these days in Russia, except for cheap vodka, and among those suffering the most are the country’s scientists and inventors. Consider the case of Viktor Gordeyev, a former engineering student at Ufa State Aviation Technical University. Inspired by an unhappy experience with physical eduaction classes, Gordeyev leveraged his knowledge in airplane piston engines to develop a gasoline-powered boot that straps on the shins and permits — via air compression, a carburetor, and a spark plug — running speeds as fast as 21 miles per hour (or 70 miles per gallon of gasoline.) The product might have been a rival to the Segway, experts say. Unfortunately, it was classified in 1974 as a Russian military secret, and when, in 1994, it was declassified, Gordeyev found that Russia did not exactly provide the economic support a start-up company needs to successfully market such a product.

Mr. Gordeyev’s thwarted attempt to commercialize the shoes is a symbol of the country’s failure to tap its considerable scientific talent for profitable business ideas,” the New York Times explained, pointing to the video game Tetris and a submersible pump for oil wells as examples of Russian inventions that the country failed to properly market. Some of the problems are obvious and include a statist society that discourages innovation. Others, however, could be resolved. Venture capital firms, for instance, have not yet congregated near universities, and succesful product developers have not managed a way to attract western interest. “Venture capital firms are starting to work here, but as a rule, if something comes to their attention it is an exception,” said Igor Belousov, a Hewlett-Packard executive who coordinates the company’s research at Russian universities. As we reported recently, the country’s UAV industry is among the most suffering.

Things are changing, if ever slowly. President Putin’s government is developing technology parks with tax breaks in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and Novosibirsk, and the United Russia political party has begun a program called the Idea Factory to help Russians market their inventions. In the meantime, Gordeyev and his partners continue to brood over their failures in the gasoline-powered boot business. According to Anfis Saibakov, who formed a company called Ekomotor to design a user-friendly version, neither the military nor Disney World was interested. “They don’t have characteristics that would allow an ordinary person to use them,” said Saibakov. “They should work like a Kalashnikov. Reliable in anybody’s hands.”