No. 155: Science in Russia

Author(s): Harley Balzer, Jon Askonas, Irina Dezhina, Irina Olimpieva
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 155
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2014

This edition considers the current state of science in Russia. Firstly, Harley Balzer and Jon Askonas compare the efforts of China and Russia to build knowledge economies that support innovation. They suggest that China is much further along in the process as it has created better incentives for agents and epistemic communities to alter their behaviour in this direction. Secondly, Irina Dezhina assesses the recent move to reorganise the structure of Russia science, by replacing the system of three state Academies with a single expert 'club'. It is argued that so far this has yielded inconsistent results due to a lack of transparency and ill-conceived decisions in government policy. Thirdly, Irina Olimpieva examines the peculiarities of innovative entrepreneurship in Russia. Using comparative empirical data, it is outlined that the post-Soviet inertia of Russian science is reflected in the particular features of Russian innovative entrepreneurship.

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