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Russia’s STI Policy: New Goals and New Challenges
Science, technology and innovation (STI) serve as major drivers of socio-technological systems’ transformation, and are seen as key policy priorities by the Russian government. Russia preserved the S&T potential of the USSR, and even strengthened it in certain areas, such as the nuclear industry, aircraft construction, space, nanotechnology, material science, and information and communication technologies. The country continues to hold prominent positions in S&T rankings: the 4th place in the world regarding the number of R&D personnel, the 6th in terms of budget appropriations for civil S&T, and the 10th for gross domestic expenditures on R&D (GERD). At the same time, a number of systemic factors are hindering Russia’s STI development. This chapter assesses Russia’s status quo of STI development, government policies since 2010, the success in meeting the key targets set in the President’s 2012 “May Decrees”, and evaluates the new objectives set by the President in 2016–2018. This chapter also analyzes Russia’s national policy model and puts forward policy recommendations.