Research and Development in Russia: An Important Factor for the Future Page: 3 of 24
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Research and Development in Russia:
An Important Factor for the Future
Summary
If the U.S. government had reduced its research and development (R&D)
funding by about 76% in real dollars from 1990 to 1996, the U.S. national R&D
system would be in crisis. But even then, the situation in the United States probably
would not have been as severe as is now the case in Russia, where that percentage of
reduction in governmental R&D funding has occurred, because the United States has
a large private-sector R&D system.
The leadership under President Yeltsin continues to move Russia from the
Soviet-era command economy toward a free-market system. This involves a
restructuring and downsizing of Russia's R&D system and its reorientation toward
civilian R&D. This restructuring, however, also has been driven to a significant extent
by the nation's deep economic recession. Although large decreases in R&D funding
and personnel and a deterioration of R&D facilities have occurred since 1991, recent
R&D budget figures (questioned by some experts) might indicate a reversal of this
trend. The most recent changes in the government's top-level R&D policy leaders
also suggest that R&D, despite its budget decreases, still is considered important in
Yeltsin's reform government. Among several recent important R&D reforms was the
establishment of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in 1993, an important
innovation in Russian R&D policy because it funds individual researchers directly
rather than their research institutes, on the model of the U.S. National Science
Foundation. A number of international financing schemes and structures to bolster
the Russian R&D system also have been created.
U.S. policy issues parallel ongoing U.S. and international programs to more fully
integrate Russia peacefully into the community of nations, thereby reducing the
potential for future conflict and increasing Russia's contribution to world economic
development. Major federal programs in support of Russian R&D accounted for
about $1.5 billion during the period from 1992 through 1998, with NASA
contributing over $900 million and DOD, DOE, and other federal agencies the rest.
One of the several new organizations established to cooperate with Russia in R&Dactivities by providing research grants to Russian scientists is the U.S. Civilian
Research and Development Foundation, created by Congress in 1992. Supporting all
U.S. cooperative R&D programs with Russia is the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission
on Economic and Technological Cooperation, established in April 1993.
It appears that the U.S. cooperative R&D programs are contributing to Russia's
peaceful transition to a market economy and are successfully addressing scientific and
technological problems and opportunities of mutual concern to the United States,
Russia, and other countries. Several years of experience with U.S.-Russia
cooperative R&D programs suggest that it is both worthwhile and practicable for the
United States to identify and promote cooperative R&D programs which are mutually
beneficial to the two nations, while carefully restricting R&D and dual-use
technologies that may contribute to near-term or long-term military threats to U.S.
national security.
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Boesman, William C. Research and Development in Russia: An Important Factor for the Future, report, August 24, 1998; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs764/m1/3/?q=%22Foreign%20relations%20-%20U.S.%20-%20Russia%22: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.