‘Science. Technology. Innovation. 2021’

The main trends in the S&T and innovation development of Russia are presented in the Pocket Data Book ‘Science. Technology. Innovation. 2021’ developed by HSE ISSEK. The publication includes the most recent statistical data on R&D input and output, as well as international comparisons.

‘Science. Technology. Innovation’ is an annual statistical digest published by the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK HSE). The data book includes information of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Statistical Office, UNESCO, World Intellectual Property Organisation, national statistical offices of other countries, and results of own methodological and ISSEK HSE analytical studies.

RUSSIA IS IN THE TOP 10 WORLD LEADERS BY SCALE OF R&D COMPLEX

✦ In terms of gross domestic expenditure on R&D, Russia ranks 9th in the world. In terms of R&D personnel in full-time equivalent, it is 4th, in terms of the number of researchers (in full-time equivalent) — 6th.

✦ The three leaders in terms of S&T indicators are the United States, China, and Japan*, with the United States lagging behind China in terms of employment in science.

* The comparisons are provided based on the 2019 data or the nearest years for which data are available.

THE GROWTH IN GROSS DOMESTIC EXPENDITURE ON R&D IN 2019 OUTPERFORMED THE GDP DYNAMICS, BUT DIDN’T BALANCE OUT THE PREVIOUS YEAR DECLINE

✦ The growth in gross domestic expenditure on R&D in 2019 was 6.3% (in constant prices), outrunning the country’s GDP growth.

✦ However, it did not fully compensate for the collapse of this indicator in 2018 (-9.2%).

✦ For many years, it had been practically impossible to overcome the one-percent threshold of the share of gross domestic expenditure on R&D in GDP. In 2010, this figure was 1.13%.

AMONG THE COUNTRIES LEADING IN GROSS DOMESTIC EXPENDITURE ON R&D RUSSIA HAS THE BIGGEST SHARE OF GOVERNMENT FUNDING

✦ In 2019, the share of government funds in the gross domestic expenditure on R&D in Russia amounted to 66.3%.

✦ This is the highest value among the leading countries in terms of gross domestic expenditure on R&D. India is closest to Russia in this conditional rating.

THE VISIBILITY OF RUSSIA IN THE GLOBAL FLOW OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES IS INCREASING, BUT ITS POSITION IN GLOBAL RATINGS IS ALMOST UNCHANGED

✦ The number of articles by Russian authors in scientific journals indexed in Web of Science and Scopus databases increased twofold over the period of 2009–2019, but the country’s position in world rankings has not changed significantly.

✦ Both 10 years ago, and in 2019 Russia ranked 14th by the number of articles indexed in Web of Science.

✦ By the number of articles indexed in Scopus, the country has moved up two positions over the same period, taking up 12th place in 2019.

CITATION OF RUSSIAN PUBLICATIONS HAS DOUBLED WITHIN 10 YEARS, BUT REMAINS BELOW THE GLOBAL LEVEL

✦ Share of citations of publications by Russian authors in the world citation total has doubled within 2009–2019.

✦ However, the citation count of Russian articles is much lower than the world average. This is evidenced by the ratio of average citation of publications by Russian authors to the world citation average: 0.69 for publications indexed in WoS, and 0.54 for publications indexed in Scopus.

ANALYSIS OF PATENT ACTIVITY DOES NOT SHOW ANY SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS IN RECENT YEARS

✦ Over the past 10 years, Russia has lost two positions in the world ranking by the number of patent applications, making way for Italy and India.

✦ By the end of 2019, Russia ranked 12th in this rating.

FOCUS ON INNOVATION IS PLANNED BY ONLY ONE OF TEN COMPANIES

✦ In 2019, the innovation activity of enterprises was 9.1%, which is lower than in previous years (in 2018 — 12.8%, in 2017 — 14.6%).

✦ To a large extent, the value of this indicator has changed due to services sector in the statistics: transportation and storage, and human health and social work activities demonstrated a low degree of engagement in innovative activity (2.8 and 5.3%, respectively).

✦ A significant increase of this indicator is not expected in the coming years: only every 10th enterprise plans to engage in innovative activity in 2020–2022.

 

INNOVATIVE ACTIVITY OF ENTERPRISES IS EQUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH CREATION OF NEW PRODUCTS AND IMPROVEMENT OF BUSINESS PROCESSES

✦ Over the past three years, 67.3% of innovative enterprises implemented product innovations and 62.6% — process innovations.

✦ The most popular type of process innovation is implementation of new or significantly improved data processing and transferring methods, shared by the organisation (27.9%), as well as goods and services production methods, agricultural production methods (25.1%).

SHARE OF INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS IN THE TOTAL SALES IN RUSSIA IS A LITTLE OVER 5%

✦ The volume of innovative products produced in 2019 reached 4.86 trillion rubles.

✦ But its’ share in total sales is only about 5%.

✦ The exception is high-tech industries, where the effectiveness of innovative activities is comparable with the same of the leading European countries: 18.1% versus 12.6% in Austria, 13.6% in Belgium, 15.5% in the UK, 14.0% in Germany.

USERS’ DEMAND BECOMES AN INNOVATION DRIVER

✦ Over the past three years, more than a quarter of enterprises that have had completed innovation activities have sold innovative goods and services ordered by users.

STI CAREER IS ONE OF THE MOST ATTRACTIVE PROFESSIONS BY RUSSIAN ESTIMATES

✦ Most of the adult respondents (aged 18 to 65) would be happy if their children went into science.

✦ At the same time, the respondents reacted more positively to their son’s choosing the job of a scientist rather than their daughter’s: 57% versus 51%.

Editorial board: Leonid Gokhberg, Yaroslav Kuzminov

Authors: Kirill Ditkovskiy, Evgeniya Evnevich, Svetlana Fridlyanova, Konstantin Fursov, Leonid Gokhberg, Maxim Kotsemir, Irina Kuznetsova, Svetlana Martynova, Alena Nefedova, Valentina Polyakova, Tatyana Ratay, Larisa Rosovetskaya, Vitaliy Roud, Galina Sagieva, Ekaterina Streltsova, Anton Suslov, and Irina Tarasenko

With contributions by Irina Varzanovtseva

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE

Citation: Science. Technology. Innovation. Pocket Data Book / K. Ditkovskiy, L. Gokhberg, Е. Evnevich, et al.; National Research University Higher School of Economics. — Мoscow. HSE, 2021.

This pocket data book contains main S&T and innovation indicators for the Russian Federation. The publication includes the most recent statistical data on R&D input and output, as well as international comparisons.

The data book includes information of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Statistical Office (Eurostat), UNESCO, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), national statistical offices of other countries, and results of own methodological and analytical studies of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

In some cases, 2019 data are preliminary.

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