Research Structure

On this page, incrEAST provides an overview of the research and technology potential of Russia.

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Research indicators

Table 1. Main Science and Technology Indicators¹

	2005	2006	2007	2008
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D,  million roubles, before 1998 – billion roubles:
at current prices	230785.2	288805.2	371080.3	431073.2
at constant 1989 prices	4.6	4.9	5.6	5.48
Gross domestic expenses on R&D:
as a percentage of GDP	1.07	1.07	1.12	1.04
as a percentage compared to the previous year at constant 1989 prices	98.3	108.3	112.9	98.4
Federal budget appropriations on civil  S&T, million roubles, before 1998 –  billion roubles:
at current prices	76909.0	97363.2	132703.4	162115.9
at constant 1991prices	4.16	4.55	5.46	5.65
as a percentage of GDP	0.36	0.36	0.40	0.39
National R&D personnel, thousand	813.2	807.1	801.1	761.3
Researchers, thousand.	391.1	388.9	392.9	375.8
Researchers per R&D institution, head-count	110	107	99	103
Researchers per 10000 employed, head-count	59	58	58	55

¹ Science Indicators: 2010. Statistical data book. Moscow, Higher School of Economics, 2010. pp. 18-20.

Research performers

The S&T institutional structure has a number of specific features that distinguish Russia from most of the other developed countries. There are about 3,600 R&D organizations operating in Russia (see Table 1).

Table 2. R&D institutes by type²

 

	2006	2007	2008
Total	3622	3957	3666
Research institutes	2049	2036	1926
Design organisations	482	497	418
Construction project and exploration organisations	58	49	42
Experimental enterprises	49	60	58
Higher education institutions	417	500	503
Industrial enterprises	255	265	239
Others	312	550	480

 ² Science Indicators: 2010. Statistical data book. Moscow, Higher School of Economics, 2010. p. 26.

Russian S&T organizations are divided into four main sectors, depending on the industry and their main functions:

• Governmental sector organisations which provide support to government institutions, working for the society as a whole.
• Business enterprise sector organisations which support companies producing goods and services for sale (both privately and publicly owned).
• Higher education sector organisations engaged in highly skilled professionals training at higher education institutions.
• Private non-profit sector organisations, including private companies which do not operate for profit.

The years of reform have brought significant changes to the governmental and business enterprise sectors. Paradoxically for a market economy, one can notice considerable growth in the governmental sector and an equally significant decline in the number of S&T organisations in the business enterprise sector.

Table 3. Number of R&D organisations by sector³

 

	Total	Governmental sector	Business enterprise sector	Higher education sector	Private non-profit sector
2007	3957	1483	1742	616	116
2008	3666	1429	1540	603	94

  ³ Science Indicators: 2010. Statistical data book. Moscow, Higher School of Economics, 2010. pp. 158, 176, 203

Research funding system

R&D funding sources in the Russian Federation include the following:

• Budget funding (including federal, regional and local budgets).
• Budget allocations for higher education institutes.
• Non-budgetary foundations.
• Money from foreign sources.
• Governmental sector organisations.
• Business enterprise sector organisations.
• Higher education sector organisations.
• Private non-profit organisations.
• Own profits of R&D organisations.

The state budget remains the biggest source of funding for Russian science. Almost 97% of the funding comes from the federal budget, and only 3% from all regional budgets put together. During the last ten years, the structure of sectoral R&D expenditures in Russia has remained practically unchanged. Almost all expenditure is received by the business enterprise (about 60%) and governmental (about 30%) S&T sectors. The business enterprise sector’s share in the total R&D expenditure in Russia is comparable with the level in other developed countries (e.g. the USA has 70.1%) and even exceeds the average for the EU (63.3%).

However, the composition of this sector in Russia is quite different from other developed countries. In Russia, the business enterprise sector includes many government-owned companies and organizations, while in other countries it mostly comprises private companies. In 1998-2008, federal budget appropriations for civil R&D grew 4.22 times (at constant 1991 prices), mainly due to increased federal budget funding. Expenditure on RAS organizations for the same period increased more than two-fold. As a result, the RAS' share in total R&D expenditure grew from 10.2% in 1995 to 12.97% in 2008.

The share of governmental funding in the gross domestic R&D expenditure in 2008 was close to 65%, which is much more than, for example, the average for the OECD countries (12-15%). Expenditure on R&D undertaken in the governmental sector amounts to about 0.3% of the GDP.

Source: HSE
Last up-date: 18 October 2010