Research Structure

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

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Research indicator

Table 1. Main Science and Technology Indicators¹

	1995	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D,  million roubles, before 1998 – billion roubles:
at current prices	12149.5	76697.1	105260.7	135004.5	169862.4	196039.9	230785.2	288805.2	371080.3
at constant 1989 prices	2.5	3.3	3.9	4.3	4.8	4.6	4.6	4.9	5.6
Gross domestic expenses on R&D:
as a percentage of GDP	0.85	1.05	1.18	1.25	1.28	1.15	1.07	1.07	1.12
as a percentage compared to the previous year at constant 1989 prices	84.9	116.0	117.8	111.0	110.4	96.6	98.3	n.a.	n.a.
Federal budget appropriations on civil  S&T, million roubles, before 1998 –  billion roubles:
at current prices	4413.6	17091.7	23023.0	29962.5	41576.3	47478.1	76909.0	97363.2	132703.4
at constant 1991prices	2.48	2.03	2.35	2.65	3.22	3.08	4.16	4.55	5.46
as a percentage of GDP	0.31	0.23	0.26	0.28	0.31	0.28	0.36	0.36	0.40
National R&D personnel, thousand	1061.0	887.7	885.6	870.9	858.5	839.3	813.2	807.1	801.1
Researchers, thousand.	518.7	426.0	422.2	414.7	409.8	401.4	391.1	388.9	392.9
Researchers per R&D institution, head-count	128	104	105	106	108	110	110	107	99
Researchers per 10000 employed, head-count	78	66	65	63	62	60	59	n.a.	n.a.

  ¹R&D Indicators: 2009. Statistical data book. M.: HSE, 2009. p. 108.

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

	1995	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Total	4059	4099	4037	3906	3797	3656	3566	3622	3957
Research institutes	2284	2686	2676	2630	2564	2464	2115	n.a.	n.a.
Design organisations	548	318	289	257	228	194	489	n.a.	n.a.
Construction project and exploration organisations	207	85	81	76	68	63	61	n.a.	n.a.
Experimental enterprises	23	33	31	34	28	31	30	n.a.	n.a.
Higher education institutions	395	390	388	390	393	402	406	n.a.	n.a.
Industrial enterprises	325	284	288	255	248	244	231	n.a.	n.a.
Others	277	303	284	264	268	258	234	n.a.	n.a.

 ²R&D Indicators: 2009. Statistical data book. M.: HSE, 2009. p. 108.

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
1990	4646	929	3139	546	32
1995	4059	1193	2345	511	10
2000	4099	1247	2278	526	48
2001	4037	1248	2213	529	47
2002	3906	1218	2110	531	47
2003	3797	1233	1990	526	48
2004	3656	1230	1851	533	42
2005	3566	1282	1703	539	42
2006	3622	1341	1682	540	59
2007	3957	1483	1742	616	116

  ³R&D indicators. Statistical data book. M.: HSE, 2009. p. 108

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 concentrated in the business enterprise (about 70%) and governmental (about 25%) 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 1995-2004, domestic R&D expenditures in the governmental sector grew by 1.8 times (adjusted for inflation), 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 11.1% in 2004.
The governmental sector's share in the total R&D expenditure in 2004 exceeded 25%, 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: 05.11.2009