Staunton, July 28 – Russian businesses have little interest in working with Russian researchers in universities and institutes, an attitude that precludes “the innovative development of the economy,” according to scholars at the Moscow Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.
The experience of other countries shows that “close and effective interaction between enterprises of the real sector of the economy and universities which support the processes of the creation, transmission, acquisition and introduction of new knowledge and technologies” is an absolute requirement for a modern economy.
But a survey the institute conducted in 2,000 Russian enterprises in the industrial and service sectors and in more than 1,000 scientific organizations found that “interest in the enterprises of the real sector of the economy for cooperation with scientific organizations is very weak in Russia.”
More than three out of four of those working in businesses said they “never used scientific-technical results obtained by national scientific research institutions and higher educational institutions” in their work. And even those who said they did overwhelmingly indicated that they used only the finished products of research and development rather than being involved in the process as is typical of businesses and academic institutions elsewhere.
According to scholars at the institute, “the rapprochement of science and business” is blocked by the lack of money and the resulting risks of making any change. Testimony, the scholars say, to “the difficult financial situation of the enterprises and the national economy as a whole.”
In addition, the scholars said, this lack of cooperation reflected “an insufficient level of preparation of scientific-technical results for practical application, the high level of competition from foreign products, the lack of qualified cadres, and the underdevelopment of innovation infrastructure.”