'I Am Doing Something That No One Else Has Done Before Me. This Is the Karma of Innovators'

After earning a degree from the Moscow Banking School, Ekaterina Dvoryantseva planned to pursue further studies in the field, towards a career in banking. However, her plans were derailed by the 1998 financial crisis. After working in several roles unrelated to aviation, she joined Aeroflot and quickly advanced to become manager of innovation. In this interview with Success Builder, she discusses how the company implements and integrates innovation, why you might run a polygraph test on a dog, and how to reclaim one's youth (spoiler: enrol in a master's programme at HSE University).

— How long have you been working at Aeroflot?

— 20 years. I joined Aeroflot's Department for Construction and Operation of Buildings and Structures while simultaneously studying in a distance-learning programme at MSTUCA. I was noticed and offered the opportunity to try my hand at innovation management. It was an entirely new line of business for the company. I accepted the offer in 2013 and have been working in this field ever since. We have come a long way, and several innovative development programmes have been created. I am currently the head of the unit, responsible for advancing the Innovative Development Programme (IDP) and refining the management of intellectual property rights.

— How does Aeroflot define innovation?

— The guidelines provided by the executive authorities define innovation as anything that has not yet been implemented in the company, even if it has been successfully applied by competitors for some time. Aeroflot is not the only one—all companies with government involvement have been designing and implementing innovative development programmes. Designing an IDP involves a series of research activities. First, a technology foresight study is conducted to help us envision the future—for example, predict which technologies will be in demand in our sector of the economy in 50 or 100 years. The second step is technology benchmarking, which involves identifying competitor companies relevant to Aeroflot, studying the technologies they use and areas of development they pursue, drawing comparisons, and determining growth points. This process provides insights into what plans need to be implemented for our company to attain its ideal future. In order to succeed, we must have a clear vision of where we want to go and which technologies we still lack.

The government encourages state corporations to integrate innovation into their operations.

— Are your predictions coming true?

— That's a very interesting question. When writing an Innovative Development Programme, we use a scenario-based forecasting approach and consider realistic, optimistic, and pessimistic scenarios for the company's development. This approach has enabled us to achieve our IDP targets during the challenging years for the airline and the industry as a whole starting in 2020. In 2016, under an optimistic IDP scenario, we set goals that seemed virtually unattainable to us at the time. But life has a way of making things happen, and we were surprised to find that we exceeded nearly all the targets set under the optimistic scenario. For example, we transported significantly more passengers, and our revenue was much higher than planned.

— And how is this related to innovation?

— As one of our CEOs said, 'Aeroflot must innovate because passengers vote with their roubles.' Unless we have innovative systems and products in the areas of security, service, and information technology, passengers will not choose us.

— How did you enrol in HSE University?

— When the time came to prepare my first report on the IDP implementation, I had two large folders of methodology guidelines to rely on—but absolutely no practical experience. I realised that guidelines alone are not enough; one needs to gain practical knowledge and skills. Fortunately, our company supports employee professional development, and I was encouraged to enrol in a continuing education programme to study innovation at the HSE Institute of Innovation Management (now the Graduate School of Business). I joined the programme and quickly fell in love with both the team and the faculty. I realised that these were people I could relate to, people who inspired me, and with whom I was on the same wavelength.

The CPD course lasted 10 days. And then Nadezhda Mangutova, Adviser and Senior Lecturer at the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, told me about the Master's Programme in Corporate Research, Development and Innovation Management. I completed the competitive procedures and was accepted into the programme.

Our programme has nurtured a unique community of innovators. The credit for this primarily goes to those who design and deliver the programme, namely Evgeniy Savelyonok, Nadezhda Mangutova, and Tatiana Stroganova. The competitive selection process for the programme is like a puzzle; each student must fit into the right place. Our course attracted a diverse group of people: practitioners with work experience who needed theory and new approaches, as well as recent graduates with entirely different competencies. The result was a unique combination of people who complemented one another. The practitioners shared their expertise, best practices, and knowledge with the early-career professionals, who, in turn, helped us become more creative.

I joined the HSE Master's Programme in 2016 at the age of 36. I felt like a student again, spending my evenings working with the team to prepare our assignments. It was probably one of the best periods of my life

At first, my supervisor thought that I needed to write a PhD thesis instead of wasting two years on a master's degree. But eventually, he came around and offered a master class on managing innovation at Aeroflot and joined our environment. Now, he chairs the State Examination Board for this master's programme, as he has extensive technical expertise.

It may sound funny, but every now and then I take out my course notebooks and find something useful, such as presentations or concepts. Studying in that programme has been extremely valuable to me in practical terms. I know where each of our graduates is currently employed, and I can call them and ask, 'Please help me, or refer me to someone who can.'

— What was your master's thesis about?

— It focused on the topic of intellectual property management, which is the outcome of the entire innovation process. Globally, a company's level of technological development is assessed, among other factors, based on its intellectual property and the outcomes achieved through implementing it.

— What types of intellectual property does Aeroflot own?

— Patents, industrial designs, utility models, computer software, trademarks, logos, and slogans—essentially, all the elements utilised in client communications. We have also developed proprietary software for internal use. For example, Manager's Monitor is an in-house R&D product that enables Aeroflot's management to access 600 operational airline indicators online in real time. These include key performance metrics for each flight and aircraft, punctuality, media sentiment, and much more.

We take particular pride in obtaining a patent for breeding the Shalaika, also known as the Sulimov dog. It is named after Klim Sulimov, an Aeroflot employee who created this unique hybrid between a herding husky and a jackal. You’ve probably seen them at airports—adorable dogs with extraordinary working abilities.

— What can Shalaikas do?

— Shalaikas are living biodetectors used by the Cynological Service of the Aeroflot Aviation Security Management Department. This breed has an exceptional sense of smell and can distinguish over 500,000 scent variations. They inherit frost resistance from the husky and the ability to perform remarkably well in hot weather and at night from the jackal.

The primary tasks of detector dogs are to inspect aircraft, cargo, baggage, and mail, as well as airline territories and facilities, for the presence of explosives, explosive devices, and other dangerous objects and substances

Aeroflot also holds a patent for a hardware and software system that can detect whether a dog is giving a false signal. Our specialists have developed gear for dogs, consisting of a vest and a cap. The cap reads the dog's brain encephalogram, while the vest monitors its breathing. The software analyses all this data and determines whether the dog's reaction is correct or if it is 'faking.' This system functions as a sort of polygraph for dogs.

— What are your objectives for the coming year?

— As usual, there are plenty of plans. We plan to conduct another inventory of our intellectual property rights. This is a large-scale task that involves going through all the structural divisions to collect and update information. We are currently monitoring any violations of the company's intellectual property rights.

— Why do you love your job?

— It keeps me engaged and motivates me to constantly grow, as there is always something new to work on. It may seem like you produce a report every year and write an Innovative Development Programme every three years, but each one is different, and so are you at that moment.

Behind every innovation, there are people—our colleagues. They are fantastic. They are passionate about their work and truly care about it. As part of writing the IDP, we visit all the structural divisions, ask about their plans, and inquire about the technologies they intend to implement. In large companies, everyone is constrained by their budgets, deadlines, reports, and checks. This doesn't exactly encourage dreaming. Nevertheless, we invite people to share their dreams, because without ideas, there can be no implementation. We tell our colleagues, 'Imagine your ideal future ten years from now. What would you need to attain that future, provided you have no restrictions on resources, deadlines, or costs?' Often, people become excited and start overflowing with ideas.

— Have you ever been asked that question?

— Yes, I replied that I dreamed of implementing all the projects I had in mind and starting the next cycle of task planning.

— In what area could you come up with innovative ideas?

— Probably, it would be related to children's education. Some children have difficulty learning. They require assistance, and we need to raise teachers' awareness, so they understand that parents haven't given up on their children. The parents are not monsters; they are also trying to develop adaptive learning methods.

At one point, I had the idea of creating electronic cursive workbooks. I wanted to create software algorithms that would allow users to write and erase on the screen while analysing their performance. But it turned out that this already exists. Ideas often come to multiple people independently at the same time, as if they are in the air, especially when there is a need to solve a problem.

— Are other graduates of your course innovators too?

— Most of them are. I think this group of graduates is a fantastic bunch. Some have been building their own startups, some work in state-owned companies, some are employed at development funds, but most are involved in innovation in one way or another. I have also engaged in something innovative for myself by periodically giving lectures in the CPD course on the Organisation and Management of Innovation Activities in Companies, offered by the HSE School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

— Do you have a dream?

— My dream is to see my children, as adults, doing what they love, enjoying it above all, and, of course, earning material rewards as well. They are now 22 and 15. My older daughter works as a marketing manager and enrolled in a master's programme at university this year. My younger daughter is finishing 9th grade. At one point, she dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, then a taster, and now she plans to become a doctor. She is still exploring her options, which is great in itself, as life is always about some form of innovation.