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PurposeIn this paper, the authors explore the relationship that slack resources and technology-mediated human capital investments can have on individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions. Focusing on human capital investments that individuals make through education and work, the authors analyze the relationship among formal online learning opportunities, informal skill development in the gig economy and entrepreneurial intentions.Design/methodology/approach Leveraging a novel dataset that merges administrative tax data with a survey of over 8,528 low- and moderate income (LMI) households, this study uses machine learning and propensity score weighting to examine the likelihood that individuals who make these technology-mediated human capital investments will have increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions when compared to similar individuals who do not make these investments.Findings The authors find that both partaking in online learning and working in the gig economy are significantly associated with increased odds of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, through a variety of robustness and mechanism checks, the authors find that technology-mediation is an important factor in these relationships and that informal skill development and career preparation is one way in which gig employment influences entrepreneurial intentions.Research limitations/implications As the study’s data come from a cross-sectional survey, the authors cannot make causal inferences about the relationship between online learning, gig employment and entrepreneurial intentions. Thus, future research should explore sources of longitudinal data.Practical implications This study has practical implication for individuals and policymakers that seek to increase entrepreneurship among LMI households.Originality/value Despite a wealth of research on the relationships among slack resources, technology and innovation at the firm level, there is little of this research at the individual level – especially among LMI individuals. The authors begin to fill this important gap.

The production, transportation, and storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a promising area in the gas industry due to a number of the fuel’s advantages, such as its high energy intensity indicators, its reduced storage volume compared to natural gas in the gas-air state, and it ecological efficiency. However, LNG storage systems feature a number of disadvantages, among which is the boil-off gas (BOG) recovery from an LNG tank by flaring it or discharging it to the atmosphere. Previous attempts to boil-off gas recovery using compressors, in turn, feature such disadvantages as large capital investments and operating costs, as well as low reliability rates. The authors of this article suggest a technical solution to this problem that consists in using a gas ejector for boil-off gas recovery. Natural gas from a high-pressure gas pipeline is proposed as a working fluid entraining the boil-off gas. The implementation of this method was carried out according to the developed algorithm. The proposed technical solution reduced capital costs (by approximately 170 times), metal consumption (by approximately 100 times), and power consumption (by approximately 55 kW), and improved the reliability of the system compared to a compressor unit. The sample calculation of a gas ejector for the boil-off gas recovery from an LNG tank with a capacity of 300 m3 shows that the ejector makes it possible to increase the boil-off gas pressure in the system by up to 1.13 MPa, which makes it possible to not use the first-stage compressor unit for the compression of excess vapours.

Introduction. National economies are looking for tools to activate the explicit and hidden resource potential. Innovative resource-saving projects are such a tool. Feed production strives to increase its resource efficiency. Study objects and methods. The present research featured the feed industry of the Russian Federation and regional feed mills. It involved structural, functional, and systematic approaches and standard research methods. Results and discussion. Liquid waste proved to be an important resource potential of modern feed production. It contains substances with high nutritional, biological, and energy value and can be used to produce methionine. The experimental part featured an industrial enterprise in the Voronezh region, which expects to produce 1452 tons of methionine worth 58 080 thousand rubles. The profitability will be 616.76%, the gross return on sales − 86.1%, the payback time – 1.44 months, the efficiency of capital investments – 8.45. Conclusion. The innovative project will reduce the negative impact on the environment, increase the resource efficiency of the enterprise, and provide additional income.

The article deals with the problems of interaction of economic and social processes in rural municipal areas, which is a determining factor in the quality of life of the rural population. The aim is to study on the basis of constructive simplification of the territorial system the allocation of its subsystems for separate study. The criterion for such allocation is to take into account the main links considered by the economic and social subsystems with the structure of the system as a whole. Rural territory can be represented in the form of interconnected spatial subsystems of the following: agricultural production, household, service, transport and information communications. At the same time, the potential for consumption of material and spiritual goods can be considered from the standpoint of three types of social accessibility: material, spiritual and spatial-temporal. It is revealed that the main disproportions in the modern development of rural areas are the disproportions between the potential of consumption, on the one hand, and the level of actual availability of material and spiritual goods, on the other. To eliminate these imbalances, it is advisable to use system analysis tools that allow you to obtain the necessary information about the interaction of social and economic factors. At the same time, the study of current trends in the interaction of economic and social processes that determine the standard of living of the rural population shows that the placement of capital investments within a rural municipal district should be based on a comprehensive cost-effectiveness analysis, since the evaluation of the effectiveness of investments for individual objects does not take into account the interrelationships, interaction and synergetic effect of socio-economic factors affecting the qual

The study examines the organization of a new business for the harvesting and processing of wild plants based on the development of traditional industries, trades and crafts of rural residents. As process solutions, a block of design justifications is presented, aimed at developing practical measures on the stated topic. In particular, the emphasis is placed on the economic justification and social significance when organizing a business for processing wild plants. In the substantive part of the study, a model for calculating capital investments is presented; sources of financing for a business project are indicated. Separately, it is worth highlighting the element of practical implementation, including the technical modernization of the production process of processing raw materials, namely, the improvement of the technological process through the use of microwave vacuum drying technology. The calculation of the need for personnel is performed; the possible qualification requirements for employees are indicated. The research of the market of similar products based on information search was carried out. An overview of the average retail prices is made according to the Internet portal “Russian agro-industrial server Agroserver.ru”, on the basis of which the forecasted amounts of proceeds from sales and the expected profit from organizing a business for processing wild plants are calculated. Significant expected results are: an increase in the standard of living of the population collecting and harvesting wild plants; providing employment in rural areas; saturation of the market with products of wild plants; strengthening of competitive positions; saturation of the market with locally produced products; increasing the profitability of regional and local budgets. It is assumed that at the initial stage, the manufactured products will be sold mainly in the region. The sale will be carried out through trade networks, as well as in markets, stationary retail outlets, fairs, exhibitions, the main consumers of the products will be the population of the Kemerovo region.

Abstract The authors of this scientific paper examine the current situation in the Russian Federation associated with the pollution of water and the atmospheric resources, with the problem of production and consumption waste accumulation, and draw their attention to the imperfection of statistical information, which does not allow for an objective assessment of the environmental situation. The quality of natural resources is not improving despite the statistical decrease in emissions and discharges of pollutants. They concluded an inconsistency of the economic development in the Russian Federation with the principles of sustainability and the “green” economy. It is necessary to intensify investment activities to protect the natural environment, in order to change the situation. At present, the share of the environmental investments in all national economic capital investments is negligible - less than 1%. The sluggish dynamic of investment processes led to insufficient commissioning of the main environmental funds. Recently, the situation has worsened in connection with the sequestration of the national project “Ecology” due to the pandemic problems. The article is devoted to the analyses of the “green” investment processes in Russia. The author’s definition of “green” investment is given.

This article examines the evolution of approaches to the content of venture capital based on the evolution of venture capital and venture capital investment, post-industrial society, institutional theory, and experience of forming the venture capital market in developing economies. Hypotheses of the functioning of venture capital in the transforming economy of the UAE and China are proposed and tested. An economical and mathematical model for assessing the efficiency of venture capital functioning has been developed. It was found that there is a particular relationship between the national characteristics of the country’s venture capital industry and the capital invested in innovative industries, as well as the production efficiency of these industries. Moreover, the attractiveness of venture capital investments somehow increases with investments in other sectors in both countries. Since the Chinese market evolved earlier than UAE, it has the most remarkable characteristics, including higher capital workforce ratios and higher exports of science and technology-intensive products. In addition, the Chinese market has a high level of development and focuses on a sustainable financing cycle than UAE.

Several possible options for the location of Pyatiletka transport interchange hub in the Samara city district are considered. In order to determine the optimal option, the hub location is compared by several parameters. Such values as passenger traffic, existing routes of urban public transport, priority directions of passenger traffic, and capital investments in construction are selected as optimization parameters. To determine the values of passenger traffic, an analysis of the existing passenger traffic was performed, with its allocation by capacity and routing. The unevenness of passenger traffic by days of the week and periods of the day is determined, the minimum and maximum values of passenger traffic are revealed, as well as its fluctuations over the considered periods. The construction of public urban transport routes allowed to identify the busiest routes and the availability of transport for different variants of the transport interchange hub location. The options of organizing the possible arrival/departure of urban public transport to/from the transport interchange hub are considered. Using the obtained data, a SWOT analysis was performed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each hub placement option and the optimal variant was selected.