The state’s share in financing university science is growing, but that of business is falling

The costs of university research in the Russian Federation in 2022 amounted to 155 billion rubles, having increased over the year in constant prices by 1%, according to the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The main source of financing remains government funds – its share has increased to 60% of costs, while the contribution of business has decreased to 27%. Although weak, the growth of government spending can still be explained by the growing interest of the authorities in the commercialization of scientific results, while experts explain the inertia of business by the still unformed ability to see the achievements of science as a weapon of competition.

The state’s share in financing university science is growing – in 2022 it increased by 4.1%, amounting to 60.1% (92.8 billion rubles), ISSEK experts calculated. In general, the volume of internal costs for these purposes, compared to 2021, taking into account inflation (in constant prices), increased by 1%, to 154.5 billion rubles. Comparable to the growth of the state’s contribution, the share of financing of university science from business decreased – by 3.5%, to 27.2% (to 42 billion rubles). Other sources account for 12.2% of expenses (of which 11.5% are funds from universities). The share of foreign sources amounted to 0.5%, immediately decreasing by 53%.

Against this background, universities have somewhat increased their participation in the development of advanced manufacturing technologies (APT). In 2022, their share increased to 25.2% from 18.1% in 2019. Let us explain that PMT are technologies and processes controlled by a computer or based on microelectronics and used in the design, production or processing of products.

ISSEK Director Leonid Gokhberg notes that the financial capabilities of business in 2022 have decreased somewhat, while the state is strengthening its support for science. We are talking about the commercialization of science – the authorities want to increase the efficiency of government investments in this area. As a source close to the White House explained to Kommersant, a new revival of government spending on R&D should be expected as early as 2024 with the implementation of the Concept of Technological Development (see Kommersant on June 7). In the meantime, as the Accounts Chamber noted earlier, the Russian Federation has developed a system of science management that is not focused on the demand for the results of scientific activity, including from business and industrial consumers. Among the developments of universities and scientific organizations, the share of those commercialized is low, the head of Rospatent, Yuri Zubov, said in an interview with Kommersant (see Kommersant, December 30, 2022).

According to the chairman of the board of trustees of Opora Rossii, Sergei Borisov, the reduction in the share of business funds in university science is “a bad trend.” “Most likely, business has not yet reached the point of development that allows it to see the achievements of science as a weapon of competition,” he believes, adding that after a certain point a turn towards innovation must still occur. He also attributes what is happening to the fact that the level of competition in the market is insufficient. Aleksey Mostovshchikov, a member of the General Council of Business Russia and co-owner of a number of IT companies, talking about his experience of working with a number of Russian technical universities, notes that the search for those responsible for such cooperation and any coordination of actions takes a lot of time and requires the implementation of many bureaucratic procedures.

Venera Petrova