Russian Applied Research and Development: Its Problems and its Promise

Abstract

This Research Report discusses the changing nature of research and development (R&D) in Russia. In the decades following World War II, the USSR was one of the two great powers in R&D; the other was the USA. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the R&D sector went into a precipitous decline that continued until at least 1995. The collection of papers in this report addresses what went wrong. A number of broad issues are covered, such as whether the decline of the R&D sector from 1991 to 1995 was too steep or too modest for the welfare of the Russian economy; how the structure and organization of Russian-applied R&D should be developed over the long term; and what role government policy should play in Russian-applied R&D. Chapters in the report were written by Russian senior officials and by scholars of R&D policy from outside Russia