half of government funding for science goes to technology development

Half of the total volume of government financial support for science falls on the development of technologies at different levels of readiness. Experts from the Institute of Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) of the National Research University Higher School of Economics analyzed the volume of funding for more than 200 federal support measures and calculated that 602.9 billion rubles, or 49 .5% of all allocated funds. The total amount of state support measures for the development of science and technology amounted to 1.219 trillion rubles.

Let us note that this is not only about direct allocation of funds. Of the total amount of financing for technology development, 367.1 billion rubles. amounted to budget support measures, tax breaks accounted for 185.9 billion rubles, and other financial measures (state-owned companies and institutions for innovative development) – another 49.9 billion rubles.

Second place in terms of government funding is stimulating demand for technology (R&D purchases). They accounted for 29.9% of all support, or 364.9 billion rubles. We are talking mainly about purchases by the state and companies with state participation, as well as special leasing and credit programs designed to obtain products using domestic technologies (software, microcircuits, 5G equipment, etc.). Here, budgetary measures accounted for 203.9 billion rubles, other financial measures amounted to 161 billion rubles, there was no tax support in this area.

The top three priorities in funding are completed by the category “Scientific and Innovation Infrastructure”. State expenditures for these purposes in 2022 amounted to 109.2 billion rubles, or 9% of expenditures on the development of science and technology. Of this amount, 83.5 billion rubles are budget measures, 24 billion rubles are other financial measures, and 1.7 billion rubles are tax measures.

In total, ISSEK has identified eight areas of support for science and technology. After the named three comes “Commercialization of the results of intellectual activity” – 89.4 billion rubles, or 7.3% of all funds. The remaining four areas (research and production cooperation, support for non-resource exports, development of human resources, popularization of science) together received only 4.3% of the total amount of government funding.

Venera Petrova