Russia’s investment in the development of science amounts to around $95 billion, and efforts must be made to increase this figure. This was announced by Anton Kobyakov, Presidential Adviser and Executive Secretary of the Organizing Committee, during the 5th Congress of Young Scientists in Sirius.
“According to scientific expenditure, we hold only the ninth position in a conditional global ranking. Our investment in science totals approximately $95 billion. This is a significant figure. But we need a qualitative leap in this direction — tenfold, twentyfold. And this already raises questions for our financial system and even our country’s monetary policy,” Kobyakov stated.
He noted that business contributions to science in Russia account for only up to 30% of total funding. For comparison, he cited business investments in science abroad: $955.6 billion in the United States, $917 billion in China, $213 billion in Japan, and $179 billion in Germany.
Kobyakov also emphasized that tax incentives used in Russia to support research and development (R&D) do not demonstrate sufficient effectiveness as a stimulus mechanism, and therefore real financial support should be prioritized.
“Today, R&D tax incentives do not work very well. Specialists from the Faculty of Taxes, Audit, and Business Analysis of the Financial University under the Government examined the impact of tax incentive mechanisms on R&D. In Russia, their effect turned out to be among the weakest compared to developed and developing countries. Thus, strategically, it is necessary to increase actual funding rather than rely on incentives,” Kobyakov concluded.
The 5th Congress of Young Scientists, organized as part of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia, is coordinated by the Roscongress Foundation, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, and the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Science and Education under the Presidential Council for Science and Education. The operator of the Decade of Science and Technology is the autonomous non-profit organization National Priorities.
