Russian Federation

Patenting by universities and PRIs is below the OECD median. To derive greater returns from Russia's public research (see below), target indicators to evaluate the results of STI development and its impact for the economy and society have been integrated into key federal programmes and government strategies. There are currently 34 technology platforms, which were established in 2011 13 and bring together some 3 000 universities, research institutes and companies to share perspectives and co operate on science and innovation. Changes made in 2012 in the legislation governing the exploitation of intellectual property assign IPRs resulting from public research to the Russian Federation and establish the principle of its free transfer so that these results feed more readily into industry and the society. Amendments to the federal law in 2013 make it easier for PRIs and universities to create business partnerships for transferring IP on the basis of licencing and commercialisation. The new Credit Guarantee Agency created in 2014 also supports universities and PRIs to commercialise their R&D results in spin-offs.

BERD accounted for 0.71% of Russia’s GDP in 2014. A distinguishing feature of the Russian system is that the federal budget for state-owned enterprises (SoEs) and industrial R&D organisations accounts for the major share of business R&D expenditures. On many measures, the innovation performance of Russian firms lags far behind their counterparts in OECD countries. Several government initiatives seek to stimulate innovative activities in the business sector. Russia updated its tax code in 2015 to provide exemptions from VAT for R&D and wider S&T activities, as well as for operations involving the protection and commercialisation of IPRs. The new allowances also provide for property tax exemptions for state scientific centres and income tax exemptions on educational organisations (including HEIs) in certain conditions. Several existing programmes remain prominent. The Innovation Development Programme (IDP) targets the largest SoEs, charging them to develop innovation strategies and to co operate with universities and research institutes. As a result, the R&D and innovation expenditures of the largest SoEs increased from 1.59% to 2.02% of sales revenue between 2010 and 2014. A new round of strategy formulation is underway in 2015 16. The Federal Law on Public Procurement (2013) provides specifically for the procurement of high-technology and innovative products and goods and services from SMEs. The long-established Russian Research Foundation for Technological Development was transformed into the Industry Development Foundation in 2014 to provide interest-free loans to support business innovation activities. Its budget was increased significantly and is expected to be around USD 1.9 billion PPP (40 billion rubles, RUB) in 2016.

Although Russia has few internationally renowned universities, the proportion of the tertiary-qualified population, at 53%, is well above that of any OECD country. Yet, the performance of 15 year-olds in science is below the OECD median. A key objective of government policy is to narrow the gap between the structure and quality of skill provision and current economic needs. To this end, the government has introduced many measures to improve the efficiency of the education system and its ability to meet the skills needs of the country. For example, the 2012 Federal Law on Education in the Russian Federation outlines the contours of a modern education system, developments in educational programmes and technologies, and new teaching methods and approaches. It has raised the standards for PhD qualification and made the process more transparent. Since 2012, the government implemented the Presidential Programme for Advanced Training of Engineering Personnel, with total state financing of USD 40 million PPP (RUB 750 million) over three years. The goal was to improve the qualification of engineers in Russia’s strategic industries and to rationalise the structure of engineering education by organising training programmes in priority industrial sectors (energy and resource efficiency, nuclear technologies, space, medicine and ICT) and internships in leading research and engineering centres in Russia and abroad. In 2012-14, the Programme funded 16 600 engineers to obtain higher qualifications and 2 100 engineers to be trained abroad. A special government programme provides “mega-grants” to help universities and research centres to attract leading scientists. Since 2010, it has supported 144 world-class researchers, half of them from abroad, to lead new laboratories in Russia. Currently, the Federal Targeted Programme for Education Development (2016-20) is being drawn up to address the skills needs envisaged for the implementation of the Strategy of Innovation Development until 2020. The programme’s budget is approximately USD 4.7 billion PPP (RUB 113 billion).

One of the main challenges for Russia is the decline and ageing of its research community. Several measures seek to address this challenge by making research careers more attractive. The Innovation Development Strategy of the Russian Federation to 2020 focuses on the creation of an effective economic and moral impetus to attract the most qualified specialists, active entrepreneurs and creative youth to the education and science sectors, which are crucial for innovation. The Presidential Decree on Measures for the Implementation of State Social Policy targets raising the average salary of researchers to 200% of the regional average by 2018. To support the development of human resources for science and education and their effective reproduction, grants of the President of the Russian Federation provide financial support and incentives to young Russian scientists in two age groups, i.e. below the age of 35 and below the age of 40, respectively.