The article examines the technical innovations that came to the traditional life of the northern Selkups in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, as well as the new social ties they generate. In the course of the study, the technical means present in different spheres of life of modern nomadic Selkups were identified, the approximate time of their appearance in agriculture was established, and the influence that they had on the tradition was studied. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were made. Technical innovations began to come into the life of the Selkups during the Soviet reorganization of the Selkup economy. The innovators were promoted by cooperative societies, collective farms, state farms and timber industry enterprises, and in the post-Soviet period, agricultural enterprises and regional departments for the affairs of indigenous peoples of the North. Among the main technical means used by modern Selkups are boat motors, snowmobiles, diesel mini-power plants, chainsaws, and welding machines. The technique that came to the Selkup forestry did not violate the foundations of the tradition, but greatly facilitated the difficult traditional life. The acquisition, operation and repair of technical means contributed to the establishment of new social ties within the Selkup community and between the Selkups and the outside world, which became one of the factors behind the release of the Selkup economy from the isolation in which it was in pre-Soviet times, as well as the change of its natural form to a market one.