Russia Business Directory

There are around 4000 organizations in Russia involved in research and development employing close to 1 million people. This sector is subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Fundamental scientific research is concentrated in Russian Academy of Sciences, which includes hundreds of institutes specializing in all major scientific disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, earth sciences etc.

Applied science and technology is mainly done in ïnstitutions and design bureaus belonging to different Russian ministries. They are involved in research and development in nuclear energy (Ministry of atomic energy), space exploration (Russian aviation and space agency), defense (Ministry of defense), telecommunications (Ministry of communications) and so on.

Russian science has experienced rather difficult times after perestroika, when both the prestige and the financing of this sector went done. Russian scientific publications still refer to the status of the science in Russia as “crisis”. In this respect, it is important to have in mind that Russian science is a diversified sector. Some fields of research are very well financed, hereunder via private sources and funds, and are keeping pace with their Western colleagues, while others have to survive rather than to research.

Having that in mind, one may however see the following symptoms in general. Firstly, the governmental financing of the Russian science has decreased dramatically. Compared to 1991, it went down by 10 times, making the total governmental support of the Russian science slightly lower than a budget of any single American research institution. About 60% of the equipment used by Russian scientists is more than 15 years old. Number of patented discoveries diminished by 7 times compared to 1990. The quoting index of Russian scientists is in average 14 times lower then that of their American fellows. About 5 000 scientists are said to immigrate abroad every year. More than 75% of Russian scientific personnel are dependant on extra income to survive.

At the same time, several positive trends can be seen. Up to 50% of financing in some fields of research (as pointed out earlier) comes from non-governmental bodies. Quite a few international organizations have established funds in Russia which can be used by research institutions. The prestige of the science is going up, which is partly proved by the increasing number of doctor degrees defended in Russia every year.

Especially, social and humanitarian sciences are experiencing an upturn, both in practical projects and growing interest amongst students. Further, scientific studies connected with innovation technologies, are given more priority in the last years, which has a direct connection with the Russian government’s plans to make Russia an innovative leader within the next twenty years.

Of course, the number of links given below does not reflect the real scope of the Russian scientific environment, as they only refer to websites of those Russian scientific institutions which have information in English. For research institutions related to specific industries, please also see the relevant sections.

Sources: Yurevich A.V. “Sostojania rossijskoj gumanitarnoj nauki” (published on Mion.isu.ru), Russian mass media, Russian Embassy in the US, NRCC materials.

General information

Ministry of Education and Science of Russia – official site of the Russian ministry responsible for education and science institutions, only in Russian(rus)

Federal Agency of Science and Innovation of Russia  – official site of the governmental body supervising scientific activities. Regularly updated news, legislative proposals, information about relevant exhibitions and projects – but all this in Russian only (rus)

Research centres and institutes

Russian Academy of Science (RAN) – governmental institution established in 1724, Russia’s highest ranking research institution, with several dozens centres throughout Russia. Most information is in Russian, some sections are in English (rus/eng)

Selected regional centres of the Academy
KARELIAN SCIENTIFIC CENTER http://www.krc.karelia.ru/index.en.html (eng)
KAZAN SCIENTIFIC CENTER  http://www.knc.ru  (ru)
KOLA SCIENTIFIC CENTER  http://www.kolasc.net.ru (eng)
PUSHCHINO SCIENTIFIC CENTER http://www.psn.ru/english/  
ST.-PETERSBURG SCIENTIFIC CENTER http://spbrc.nw.ru/!english/main/index.htm
UFA SCIENTIFIC CENTER http://www.anrb.ru/english.html  (eng)
CHELYABINSK SCIENTIFIC CENTER http://csc.ac.ru/index_en.html (eng)
KOMI SCIENTIFIC CENTRE http://www.komisc.ru/en/ (eng)

Chemistry Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod – chemistry research (eng)

Russian Geological Research Institute, Moscow – all-Russia research institution, directly responsible to the MInsitry of Natural resources (eng)

Federal Information Centre on Defence Industry - defence research (eng)

Russian Research Kurchatov Centre – Russia’s leading institution as for research in nuclear energy (eng)

List of several Russian research centers – compiled by the Centre for European Migration and Ethnic Studies (eng)

Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMASH) – Russia’s largest national research and test center involved in design and exploratory research to substantiate a reasonable engineering policy in the development of rocket and space technology; fundamental and applied research in aerogasdynamics, heat transfer and thermal protection, dynamics, strength and reliability of launch vehicles, spacecraft, orbital stations and space vehicles; control of manned spacecraft orbital stations and research and commercial space vehicles (eng)

Scientific-Research Institute of Natural Gases and Gas Technologies (VNIIGAZ) - founded by Gazprom, this institution takes care of coordination of scientific developments in the gas industry within the framework of large-scale target and engineering projects and programs, performs research, development and design works (eng)

Russian Research Institute of Artificial Intelligence – developing business-plans and feasibility study using modern programming, development of databases, application of software in work processes, economic and mathematical assessment methods (eng)

Russian Certification Institute (VNIIS) – research institution (est. 1965) involved in studies around standardization, certification of products and services, technical regulation and efficient companywide management quality management (eng/rus)

Think-tanks
"Center for Strategic Research" Foundation - a non-governmental think-tank engaged in analysis of political, economic and social situation in Russia (eng)

Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis - A non-governmental thing-tank providing analysis of political, economic and social situation in Russia (rus)

Institute of Sociology of RAN - Russia’s leading sociology research institution (rus)

Institut Ekonomiki i Organizatsii Promyshlennogo Proizvodstva SO RAN - A research institution specialised on studying regional economic development. English version is under construction. (rus)

The Institute of Economics (est. 1930) of the Academy of Sciences, presently under merging with the Institute of International Economic and Social Studies of the Academy (eng)

The Institute for Economy in Transition - an independent non-commercial research organization, founded in 1990, now headed by former Russia’s prime minister Yegor Gaidar, carrying out comprehensive research in the field of economics. Valuable source of analytical reports, as well as prognosis and trends in the economy, also for download (eng/rus)

All-Russia Market Research Institute – one of the leading research institutions in the sector, providing economic consultancy, established in 1947 under the authority of Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR (eng)

Publications
Socis - one of Russia’s leading sociology magazines, with comprehensive reviews, statistics and analysis of the modern Russian society. English version gives only a summary of the contents (eng/rus)

Region Sociology Magazine - published by Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering (eng)

Science and Life (Nauka i Zhizn) – Russia’s probably most popular (and popularized) publication about science. Short summary and news in English, full text of articles in Russian (eng)

International Russia studies centres - Center for Political and International Studies (CSIS), Russia Section, in Washington(eng)

NUPI - Centre for Russian Studies - Norwegian institution based in Oslo.