How can we reform applied science

Konstantin Kiselyov, Executive Director of the Open Economy Center.The sector of applied research and development, which is of paramount importance for the innovative development of the country, turned out to be left to itself, and is developing exclusively in the interests of solving narrowly sectoral tasks and mastering budget resources allocated within the framework of budget target programs without any significant macro-effects.

Moreover, the legislation of the Russian Federation lacks key concepts that define the very existence and development of applied research and development.

Applied science plays an important role in the development of modern society, in which knowledge plays an increasingly important role. In the general scheme of research and development, applied research aimed at obtaining concrete results is at the intersection of fundamental science with its focus on generating new knowledge on the one hand and the real sector of the economy on the other. In accordance with the Frascati Manual [1], applied science includes original research aimed, on the one hand, at obtaining new knowledge and, on the other, at achieving specific practical goals. This is the difference between applied science and fundamental science, which includes theoretical and practical research aimed at obtaining knowledge about observed natural phenomena and their causes, and not aimed at achieving practical results. Applied science is located between fundamental science and development – an activity that is based on knowledge acquired as a result of scientific research or on the basis of practical experience, and is aimed at preserving human life and health, creating new materials, products, processes, devices, services, systems or methods and their further improvement. It is important to note that applied research and development plays an important role for the modern period of Russia's development, since the accelerated development of the post-Soviet period of the country's history is impossible without technological renewal of the sphere of material production, which is experiencing significant growth difficulties associated with modernization restrictions.

It should be noted that the concept of branch science is essential for applied science as a whole, it is connected with the concept of departmental science, which has its roots in the Soviet system of organizing scientific activities. The most important parameter for the existence and functioning of any sector is financing. Before the reforms, branch science was fully supported by the state budget. Mostly - through ministries, partly - from the customer factories, which were given money by the same ministries, partly - through the State Committee for Science and Technology. According to the CISN, in 1990-1993, the state budget remained the main, almost the only source of financial resources for all subjects of science and technology, including industry research organizations, although most ministries were disbanded, and only their "fragments" were preserved in the form of various committees and subcommittees under the common roof of the Ministry of Economy. This, by the way, is a significant difference between the industrial sector and the academic and university. In the latter, the previous management system and the corresponding apparatus for the redistribution of resources remained virtually unchanged. In the Soviet administrative command system, scientific organizations were under the jurisdiction of ministries and departments, including various academies. Each branch ministry was subordinate to scientific organizations (branch institutes) that served enterprises or groups of enterprises. By tradition, today a complex of scientific organizations is referred to as branch science, into which branch institutes were transformed during the reforms of the 1990s.

Unfortunately, as a result of an insufficiently thought-out "administrative reform" based on the theory and experience of others (meaning the reform of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2004), there was a certain loss of manageability of the economy, including the scientific and technical sphere (perhaps, first of all, since it has a state nature of financing). In view of the "spreading" of the powers of the Cabinet of Ministers and the ministries themselves, the shuffling of functions between the Government, ministries and departments of the sector turned out to be divided between departments, and a vicious practice took root when the powers to manage subordinate areas were cut off from the cash flows to reinforce them. The sector of applied research and development, which is of paramount importance for the innovative development of the country, turned out to be left to itself, and is developing exclusively in the interests of solving narrowly sectoral tasks and mastering budget resources allocated within the framework of budget target programs without any significant macro effects. Moreover, the legislation of the Russian Federation lacks key concepts that define the very existence and development of applied research and development.

The Russian Academy of Sciences, being a powerful distribution coalition and defending its "departmental" interests, managed to amend the main law – "On Science", allowing it to consolidate isolation from the holistic management of science and technology, which additionally put applied research and development beyond the state regulation.

At the same time, the non-academic sector, which we refer to in this article as a set of industry research institutes, is even more opaque.

In particular, we will refer to the data of the consolidated analytical report prepared by the Federal Agency for Science and Innovation of the Russian Federation on the reporting documents submitted by federal executive authorities on the federal state unitary enterprises (FSUE) and open joint stock companies (JSC) performed in 2006 at the expense of their own funds of civil R&D. Within the framework of this report, development trends, topics and main directions of ongoing research and development are identified.

The sample of Rosnauki [2] included 51 branch scientific organizations, of which 40 did not conduct research and development at their own expense. According to the data presented, the total cost of research and development for civil purposes, carried out at the expense of own funds by state unitary enterprises and joint-stock companies, amounted to 256 672.5 thousand rubles in 2006

Of interest is the distribution of the volume of own funds of enterprises aimed at the implementation of priority areas for the development of science, technology and technology in the Russian Federation, as well as critical technologies of the Russian Federation is shown in Tables 1.2 and 1.3, respectively.

Table 1.2 Distribution of the volume of own funds of enterprises aimed at the implementation of priority areas of development of science, technology and technology in the Russian Federation

TOTAL: 14602.0

Table 1.3 Distribution of the volume of own funds of enterprises aimed at the implementation of critical technologies in the Russian Federation No.n/a Critical technology (indicated in the report) The amount of financing (thousand rubles) №

TOTAL: 20741.3

Thus, the total amount of own funds of enterprises aimed at implementing priority areas of development of science, technology and technology and critical technologies amounted to 33,608.3 thousand rubles.  This is only 13% of the total amount of own funds of enterprises involved in R&D for civil purposes. The volume of own funds of enterprises aimed at conducting research and development that do not correspond to the priority areas of development of science, technology and technology in the Russian Federation, as well as critical technologies of the Russian Federation, amounted to 223,064.2 thousand rubles, or 87% of the total amount of own funds of enterprises involved in research and development for civil purposes. At the same time, the volume of R&D financing of strategic enterprises at their own expense for the implementation of priority areas for the development of science, technology and technology in the Russian Federation and critical technologies of the Russian Federation amounted to 10,280.3 thousand rubles. Which accounted for 83% of the total amount of own funds of strategic enterprises involved in civil R&D [1]. Analysis of the information contained in the submitted reports of enterprises for 2006 shows that the amount of own funds of these organizations aimed at implementing priority areas of development of science and technology and critical technologies of the Russian Federation is only 33,608.3 thousand rubles (42 topics), and the subject of the Research Institute's work as a whole is aimed at solving narrow-industry tasks.

Thus, today the state:

• has a very poor understanding of the structure, directions of scientific and technological research, property complexes and the nature of financing of research organizations subordinate to federal executive authorities (with the exception of SSC);
• national scientific and technological priorities and critical technologies are only marginally taken into account in the activities of industry scientific organizations, and R&D expenditures in these areas are not systematic (with the exception of SSC).

Under the current conditions, it is necessary to develop a Concept for the development of applied science and technology related to sectoral strategies during 2009 and to consolidate in legislation the basic concepts that allow this segment of the national economy to become its integral structure with common distinctive characteristics. The development of the Concept should be carried out taking into account the economic crisis and in such a way that the object of state influence is fully identified, and measures for its modernization are initially supported by relevant regulations and budget mandates (powers).

One of the options for updating public administration in the applied (industry) sector The aim of the IIR is to increase the role of its system–forming element - state scientific centers (SSC), some of which, by their characteristics and indicators, can become the largest industrial research and production complexes by analogy with the parent organizations of the former. the USSR. It is these centers in the number of 20-25 organizations, along with other large subjects of scientific and technical activity and state corporations (with the separation of the main functions and partial duplication of auxiliary ones), that form the backbone of the applied research and development sector, will be able to effectively implement R&D in priority areas of science and technology development, perform predictive and analytical functions of an intersectoral and sectoral nature, coordinate relations of science and technology with industry, education and SMEs.

The applied science sector is a tool for concentrating resources on priority areas of technological development to ensure the realization of competitive advantages of the high–tech industry and the domestic research and development sector on the world market.

Let's list the main directions of the Concept of development of the applied research and development sector

Key problems of the applied science sector:The blurring of priorities for conducting applied research, an excessive number of departmental (branch) scientific organizations focused overwhelmingly on state support.

• As a result - the dispersion of budgetary resources, duplication of the results of research and development, reduced motivation to develop at their own expense, lack of opportunities to reproduce the results of applied research;
• Uncertainty (lack of unification) of key performance indicators of organizations in the applied science sector [2];
• Low level of involvement in the implementation of sectoral strategies of innovative development, extremely low level of transparency of organizations, departmental isolation. Most of the organizations of the applied science sector show insufficient activity in the development of sustainable ties in the areas of "science-production" and "science-education-production".
  The discrepancy between the cycles of planning, financing and implementation, which in the vast majority of cases does not allow us to talk about the real integration of branch science with academic, university sectors and production. As a result, there is a decrease in the development potential of applied organizations themselves and specialized segments of the economy;
• Imperfection of organizational and legal forms: a significant number of organizations of the public sector of applied science carry out their activities in the organizational and legal form of state institutions and state unitary enterprises, which puts a barrier to the market commercialization of IIR, hinders the investment attractiveness of organizations.

We have selected the following as the main directions of reforming the public sector of applied research and development in order to increase its efficiency:

• Optimization of the number of organizations performing applied research and development, their size and property complexes on the basis of consolidation (with the allocation of additional funding on a competitive basis) and liquidation of inefficient organizations based on the results of the state inventory according to the indicators approved by the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation;
• Expansion of the program-targeted method of financing applied research and development, which allows optimizing the proportions between estimated and non-estimated financing, increasing the share of competitive financing and targeted investments in budget financing, taking into account the potential of innovative development of organizations;
• The active use of new organizational and legal forms, forcing the transformation of state unitary research and industrial enterprises into other organizational and legal forms that allow the full use of public-private partnership mechanisms in market conditions;
• Concentration of sufficiently large budget resources, development of conditions and implementation during 2009 competitive procedures that allow creating a network of large federal resource scientific and technical centers based on the best state scientific centers [3] and academic institutions with a pronounced applied industry orientation. These centers should become the main organizations of the full scientific and technological cycle by organizational type - NGOs, and first of all take over the functions of monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation of priority areas of science and technology development (state order), as well as sectoral strategies (integration with other sectors).
• The concentration of budgetary resources that allow solving personnel problems (which are of paramount importance for the adjusted IIR), improving the quality of education, bringing it closer to the direct executors of the state scientific and technical order. The science-education chain should be built in such a way that universities do not assume excessive functions for conducting scientific activities [4], but focus on the largest applied NGOs on the basis of a proven system of basic departments.
• Orientation of the implementation infrastructure to the best applied NGOs, technological universities, academic organizations, which, as already mentioned, should be allowed to create subsidiaries, independent firms and institutes, "centers of excellence", seed funds. The elements of this infrastructure that have already been created (technoparks, business incubators, innovation zones), but are disconnected from real activities, must first be delegated the functions of supporting SMEs.
• At the same time, to organize the improvement of the regulatory framework regulating the emergence and involvement in civil circulation of the rights to the RNTD through the infrastructure, ensuring their transfer to industry. Only in this case it will be possible to create an interconnected system of innovation belts that are directly related to priority areas of science and technology development;
• Orientation of large resource centers - organizations of the applied sector of science (NGOs) to the implementation of a limited number of large federal targeted programs of scientific and technological profile in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia. On the other hand, effective positioning of programs for the development of the applied science sector in the strategies for the development of economic sectors (industry strategies, strategies for the development of individual markets), participation in the development of a system of target indicators of the public sector of applied science as a whole, management of monitoring the effectiveness and competitiveness of organizations in the applied science sector.

In order for organizations with the status of SSC to become the main network of large federal resource scientific and technological centers that play a major role in the implementation of priority areas of science and technology, it is necessary to change the role and place of the SSC of the Russian Federation in the public sector of science, to clarify their main and additional functions in the public sector of applied science.

The main functions of state scientific centers:Conducting interrelated fundamental and applied research and development in priority areas of science and technology development, participating in the formation and implementation of federal target programs, as well as sectoral development programs as parent organizations;

• Carrying out predictive and analytical work in the interests of the development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia, as well as in the interests of industry-specific industrial innovation strategies;
• Organization of the process of transfer of R&D results into innovations, participation in the commercialization of ready-made technologies within the framework of industry innovation development strategies;
• Creation of innovative educational infrastructure, including ensuring the functioning of scientific and educational centers, scientific schools, implementation of measures for the training and retraining of professional personnel, training and advanced training of technical personnel;
• Creation of integrated structures of the "innovation belt" for interaction with SMEs;
• Provision of a complex of works on industry standardization and technical regulation, accounting of RNTD.

Additional functions of the GNC:Participation in expert events on all problems of the development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia;

• Participation in program and non-program activities for the development and examination of proposals regarding the reform of the research and development sector, industrial clusters, social scientific and industrial environment, modernization of educational state policy;
• Preparation and participation in international scientific and technological cooperation programs;
• Implementation of technological monitoring in Russia and abroad.

The assignment of the functions of the main scientific and production organizations to the SSC organizations will require them to implement the entire set of measures to strengthen the integration of the applied research and development sector with the academic and university sectors. It also means that the SSC will be involved in forecasting the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation together with the federal agencies responsible for this type of activity. It is mandatory for the SSC to participate in the development of specialized activities within the framework of the formation of medium-term development strategies for individual industries and long-term industrial development concepts.

In order for the performance of these functions to have a clear regulatory, substantive and financial basis, it is necessary:

• To clarify the system of criteria that an organization must meet in order to obtain the status of the SSC of the Russian Federation, including in relation to joint–stock companies (with the participation of the state in their capital - at least a controlling stake), to clarify the target indicators for evaluating the activities of organizations that are part of the SSC of the Russian Federation;
• To formalize the obligation to have a medium–term program of activity and development of an organization with the status of a SSC, linked to the national economic development strategy, the development strategy of the relevant sector of the economy - an industry strategy;
• To determine the directions and structure of the financing system of the SSC of the Russian Federation, including ensuring the implementation of the organization's own innovative development programs with the help of state support on a competitive basis for joint research projects of the SSC of the Russian Federation and private companies within the priority areas of science and technology development;
• By a special decree of the Government, to allocate the place of the organizations of the SSC of the Russian Federation within the framework of federal target programs in the field of science and technology, industrial development, as well as target programs, the customer of which is the federal executive authority to which the data of the SSC of the Russian Federation belong;
• Coordinate with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and with the relevant federal executive authorities, to which the SSC belongs, the planning of budget expenditures to support their activities on an ongoing basis in the overall structure of expenditures on civil R&D.

When developing models of direct participation of the state in the revival of the sector of branch science, one can refer, among other things, to the experience of organizing the work of scientific and industrial associations in the era of a planned economy.

When adopting such, in a certain sense, non-market models, two important factors should be taken into account. Firstly, for qualitative and operational changes in the structure of the economy in favor of high-tech and competitive industries, the state should participate in the process as a direct participant, and not only create the necessary institutional and legislative conditions [5]. Secondly, most scientific, technological and engineering design organizations, which are in the form of a unitary enterprise or a joint-stock company with the decisive participation of the state, are only formally in market conditions: in fact, the state somehow finances these organizations. And this practice seems to be much more harmful, because it distorts the objective picture and devalues many market procedures and processes.

All high-tech industries and market sectors depending on the quality of products (including RNTD) and the level of development can be divided into three major segments.

1. A segment where there is a presence of sufficiently strong Russian private companies and the task of the state is to stimulate and support (subsidize by tariff and non-tariff means) the innovative development of these industries.
2. High-tech sectors and industries that, from the point of view of national interests, are important for the country, growth-forming for the Russian economy, but where there are no serious private Russian companies, or the Russian presence is represented only by the public sector.
3. The so-called "post-industrial economy" sector, represented by small innovative companies, scientific organizations and universities.

Depending on the segment, the state policy (instruments of influence) and the model of state participation (form of ownership, financing) should also differ. There is no doubt only that branch science requires a serious state program of restoration, even in those industries where specialized scientific and design organizations have been preserved.

A serious impact on the development of an economic sector or a market sector, leading to the emergence of powerful competitive Russian players in these sectors, as well as maintaining their stability in the long term, is possible only with a strong industry (applied) science. This implies the requirement to organize large specialized branch scientific associations or scientific and industrial associations.

The organizational status form of large industry scientific associations is more suitable for those industries where there is already competition between private Russian (in some cases, foreign) companies. Another thing is that for one reason or another (cheap raw materials, cheap energy, inefficient business model), the innovative and scientific activity of companies is low. This situation is quite understandable – over the past few years, private business could develop in conditions of "walking distance" of borrowed resources, without looking at productivity, logistics, corporate governance and the culture of production, moreover, long-term planning, even at large Russian enterprises, was of a non-innovative nature. This can partly be blamed on the state, as it has not provided a stable innovation climate in the country. But this is also an additional argument for active state support of innovative activities of such enterprises in the current conditions.

Along with certain infrastructural changes that stimulate innovative activity, the state can and should directly contribute to the development of economic sectors by direct participation in the development of specialized branch science, with the understanding that in the future most of the applied research and design developments of enterprises in such sectors should be conducted independently in their own scientific and design departments.

This state of affairs determines the functional requirements, the level and depth of the tasks facing state scientific organizations specializing in sectors of the economy where there are already competitive (including at the global level) Russian companies. These main scientific organizations should assist the development of all enterprises in the sector. Perhaps the main format of such scientific organizations is the "national laboratory" in a specific direction.

So, simultaneously with the improvement of the system of state scientific centers and the optimization of their composition, it is necessary to move to the formation of "national laboratories" focused on dynamic advancement in certain areas of technological development, that is, to create conditions for the development of production of defense and new competitive civilian technologies of the world level.

When creating "national laboratories", it is necessary to focus on the functions that are supposed to be given to them, regardless of the organizational form and departmental affiliation, assuming also mergers and associations of individual complementary scientific and technological organizations. The formation of "national laboratories" should take place on the terms of competitive procedures after a special state inventory of scientific, technical, innovative and production potential. The competition should be held in two stages:

• The first stage is the selection of organizations based on their scientific and innovation potential (according to a set of criteria);
  The second stage is a competition of own development programs
• organizations admitted to participation (ability to independently plan sustainable development) and selection of organizations for obtaining the status of a "national laboratory" (compliance of plans with criteria developed by the Government).

The formation of new legal entities or a change in the form of ownership of property within the framework of this process can not be carried out.

The following tasks should become priorities for the "national laboratories"::ensuring the implementation of priority areas of technological development on the basis of public-private partnership mechanisms;

• scientific coordination of the implementation of targeted technological programs;
• development of globally competitive commercial technologies;
• coordination of participation in international scientific and technical cooperation and development of proposals for an active strategy for integrating the applied research and development sector into the global system.

The list of the main and additional functions of such scientific organizations (national laboratories) should include:

1. Analytical and predictive monitoring of advanced foreign scientific and technological achievements in the subject area of interest;
2. Development of national scientific and technical forecasts, plans and programs for solving the main problems aimed at improving the technological and economic level of production and the plan of products in the industry (economic sector);
3. Providing the necessary scientific, educational and methodological assistance in improving the skills of employees, specialists of organizations and managers of specialized organizations in the development and implementation of the results of the latest scientific and technical research and technological developments;
4. Provision of a full range of "infrastructure services";
5. Mastering the main advanced competencies on its own scientific laboratory and experimental production base, creation and development of advanced centers for collective use;
6. Conducting exploratory scientific research in a specialized subject area, creating and developing basic technological platforms together with individual specialized scientific organizations specializing in this field;
7. Implementation of measures in the field of standardization, technical regulation, metrology;
8. Organization and support of scientific and educational centers, participation in programs and projects of research universities together with relevant universities and scientific organizations.

The most appropriate for "national laboratories" (from the standpoint of ensuring sustainable financing of medium-term programs for their development) is the organizational and legal form of an autonomous institution, which combines the estimated financing of their development programs and program financing within the framework of federal targeted programs of scientific and technological profile. This organizational legal form will allow, firstly, to obtain a certain independence and independence from the state even with the availability of basic state funding; secondly, to attract the private sector to the number of co-founders with appropriate additional investment volumes and increase the efficiency of the overall activities of the national laboratory; thirdly, it will allow to implement specialized scientific projects and provide specialized services on a commercial basis, which will also attract additional financing and provide a greater understanding of the needs of the market.

By 2010 5-7 "national laboratories" of two types can be formed:sectoral (providing a fundamentally higher technological level in the industry in order to expand the export of its products (services);

• technological (providing the development of fundamentally new technologies in order to stimulate the development of new sectors of the economy, or the use of which is possible in many industries and significantly affects the characteristics of the corresponding products (services).

If we consider those sectors of the economy where there are no serious private Russian companies, or the Russian presence is represented by the public sector, then it makes sense to use models that are close to the models of scientific and industrial associations of the times of the planned economy. This is necessary, at least for a transitional period, but in any case, having created a successful high-tech company (group of companies), the state should either bring these structures to the market (withdraw from the founders, or move to the status of a minority shareholder), or allocate the main scientific structures and transfer it to the format of a "national laboratory".

It makes sense to organize parent scientific and production associations (GNPO) either in the form of autonomous institutions or open joint-stock companies with the decisive participation of the state in the capital of these companies. Moreover, the state in such societies should be represented by both relevant departments and state organizations, for example, state corporations. This will allow, on the one hand, to strictly control the effectiveness of the management of such scientific and industrial associations, on the other - to achieve high-quality implementation of the state program for medium-term development of a particular industry (sector). The participation of the state will contribute to the targeted use of fixed assets, will help prevent attempts to change the profile of activities and threats of raider seizures. The task of the state corporation in this case should be to create an effective market segment and a competitive presence of Russian companies in this segment, which will not allow the market to be monopolized by the created scientific and production association, as it could happen if this association is subordinated directly only to the relevant ministry.

The GNPO network will be a structure consisting of a group of organizations with common distinctive characteristics, management bodies, the order of disposal of property, personnel, economic activities, and performance criteria. They will be controlled and financed by higher federal executive authorities, as the main managers of budget funds.  At the same time, in order to coordinate the plans of scientific and technical activities of GNPO, their network interaction, as well as to establish effective scientific, organizational and economic ties with other segments of the national research and development sector, it is planned to consider two options:

1. The option of creating a separate governing and coordinating structure within the federal executive authorities (by the type of the former. State Committee for Science and Technology of the USSR).
2. A variant of the management of the GNPO network by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, which will perform coordinating and controlling functions in relation to scientific and technical planning and the effectiveness of GNPO.     

In order to increase the importance of GNPO across the entire national research and development sector and for the purpose of effective expert exchange, it is proposed to create an expert advisory body independent of the FOIV - the Council of General Designers of the Russian Federation [6], which will include:, which will include:

• General Directors of GNPO;
• Heads of the Ministry of Education and Science, relevant branch ministries and departments;
• President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Presidents of branch state academies;
• Heads of the largest Russian corporations and banks;
• Heads of state corporations.

Below we have presented an approximate draft of the regulation defining the structure, functions and financing of the main NGO of an industry nature.

General provisions of the GNPOThe head scientific and production association of GNPO is a single scientific and production and economic complex, which includes research, design, design and technological organizations, factories, commissioning, installation supervision and other structural units, depending on the tasks assigned to the association by the main shareholder.

Structural units that are part of a scientific and production association are not or are legal entities, in the latter case, they are subject to legislation defining the activities of research, design, design and technological organizations. Thus, the activity of the scientific and production association is based on a combination of centralized management with the economic independence of the structural units of the association.

The scientific and production association, using the state property fixed in its operational management or use, carries out its activities by the collective of the association under the leadership of a higher authority in accordance with the socio-economic development plan and the entire set of sectoral development plans based on economic calculation (scientific research and technical developments of the GNPO are financed from the federal budget), performs the functions assigned to him and enjoys all the legislative rights related to the profile activity, has an independent balance sheet and is a legal entity.

The main tasks of the scientific and production association are:Solving the problems of scientific and technological progress in the industry (sub-sector) based on the use of the latest achievements in the field of science and technology, technology and production organization;

2. Creation and implementation of new machines, devices, equipment, materials, technological processes, automated control systems, machine systems (equipment complexes) for mechanization and automation of production processes at industry enterprises and in the economy as a whole;
3. Transfer to state-owned enterprises subordinate to a higher executive authority and market economic entities on the basis of RNTD business contracts for the organization of serial and mass production of developed new equipment and technology, participation in the organization of new products, installation and commissioning;
4. Development of scientific and technical forecasts, plans and programs for solving the main scientific and technical problems aimed at improving the technical and economic level of production and output in the industry (sub-sectors);
5. Provision of necessary assistance in professional development of specialists of organizations, enterprises and industrial associations that master and implement RNTD GNPO (results of scientific research and technical developments);
6. Provision of educational services on a free and commercial basis at the basic departments of universities established with the participation of GNPO, and professional development services in their own scientific and educational centers, provision of information services to scientific and technical organizations, industry enterprises about the achievements of GNPO in the field of creating new equipment and developing new technological processes, as well as participation in the prescribed manner in domestic and foreign technical exhibitions and fairs;
7. Improving planning and management, improving the efficiency of scientific research and technical developments, introducing scientific organization of labor and production, increasing the role of economic and mathematical methods of planning and management of the industry, improving the organization of economic calculation;
8. Full implementation of the state order (GZ), obligations and contracts in accordance with the concluded business agreements;
9. Development of methodological recommendations to increase labor productivity within the industry (sub-sector), as well as to increase the efficiency of scientific research, technical development and production, systematic reduction of the estimated cost of research and development and the cost of production;
10. Rational use and efficiency improvement of capital investments, reduction of construction time and cost;
11. Strict fulfillment of tasks on production, profits, tax payments to the federal budget, tasks on capital construction, commissioning of fixed assets and production facilities and other tasks of national economic and sectoral plans;
12. Creating conditions for the consolidation of personnel, improving forms and systems of remuneration, stimulating the efficiency and effectiveness of labor.

A scientific and production association is established, depending on its subordination, by the relevant federal ministry (department) of the Russian Federation. The founders may include regional executive authorities, commercial enterprises. When creating GNPO, the specialization of organizations and enterprises, their territorial location, the presence of scientific and technical links between them, the need for full or partial centralization of scientific and technical and production and economic functions in order to ensure the effective operation of GNPO is taken into account.

The structural unit of the association is created by a body superior to the association on the recommendation of the general director of the association (or by a decision of the Board of Directors of the joint-stock company).

Depending on the tasks and profile of the activity, the head scientific and production association is subordinate to the Ministry (department) of the Russian Federation or the Government of the Russian Federation (in this case, the GNPO operates in the status of a "national laboratory").

If necessary, by decision of the Ministry (department) of the Russian Federation or the Government of the Russian Federation, separate independent enterprises and organizations enjoying the rights provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as industry regulations on research, design, design and technological organizations, may be subordinated to the main scientific and production association.

The association, to which independent organizations and enterprises are subordinate, acts in relation to them as a higher financial planning body. However, the GNPO can only partially centralize the performance of certain production and economic functions of these organizations and enterprises.

The Scientific and Production Association is responsible for its obligations by the property assigned to it, which, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, can be levied. The responsibility of the association for the obligations of a higher authority, as well as the responsibility of a higher authority for the obligations of the association, arises only in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The state is not responsible for the obligations of the association, and the association is not responsible for the obligations of the state.

The scientific and production association has a charter approved by a higher authority.

The charter of the association must contain:the name of the association indicating its location (postal address) and the list of details of the accounts of the association in the institutions of banks;

• name of the body to which the association is directly subordinate (higher authority);
• indication of the purpose and scope of the scientific and production activities of the association (profile, specialization);
• an indication that the association has an authorized fund;
• an indication that the association operates on the basis of the legislation of the Russian Federation and is a legal entity;
• name of the official heading the association;
• a list of structural units that are part of the association, indicating the location of each of them, the name of the head structural unit of the association, and if they have accounts in bank institutions, a list of the details of these accounts.

The association acquires rights and obligations related to its activities and is a legal entity from the date of approval of the charter.

Rights and obligations of a structural unit of a scientific and production association.The regulations on the structural unit of the scientific and production association are approved by the general director of the association; the regulations on its divisions (departments, services, workshops, sites and others) are approved by the head of the corresponding structural unit of the association.

The General Director of the association has the right to grant additional rights to the structural unit of the association within the competence of the association, with the exception of the rights transferred to the association by a higher authority.

A structural unit of a scientific and production association may have its own name (associated with the name of the GNPO), legal and postal addresses, bank details, statistics codes.

Structural unit of the scientific and production association:
disposes of the fixed and working capital, labor and material resources transferred to it, carries out its activities on the basis of economic calculation within the limits of the rights established by law, as well as the rights transferred to it by the scientific and production association. The GNPO structural unit enters into business contracts on behalf of the association, the responsibility for which the association bears (the list and types of such contracts are determined by the association).

The procedure for the implementation of intra-economic relations in a scientific and production association, the consequences of violations by structural units of the association of their duties, as well as the procedure for resolving intra-economic disputes in the association are determined by the association.

In order to consider promising and current problems of accelerating scientific and technological progress in production, to conduct a unified technical policy and to develop recommendations for the use and introduction into production of the latest achievements of domestic and foreign science and technology, major inventions and the results of scientific discoveries, a Scientific and Technical Council consisting of the chairman (General Director of the association) is created in the scientific and production association. or his deputy for science), the scientific secretary and members of the council. The scientific and technical council of the association may include leading scientists and specialists of other organizations working on the profile of the association, representatives of industry enterprises, a higher authority. The composition of the Scientific and Technical Council of the GNPO and its regulations are approved by a higher authority.

In accordance with the current procedure, a Council for awarding academic degrees should be established in a scientific and production association.

The audit of scientific and production and financial and economic activities of a scientific and production association is carried out by a higher authority with the involvement of representatives of unaffiliated organizations comprehensively once every two years.

The association verifies the scientific, production, financial and economic activities of its structural units and participates in the verification of the activities of independent organizations and enterprises subordinate to the association.

The property of a scientific and production association consists of fixed and current assets forming its authorized capital, as well as funds and other property assigned to the association. The property assigned to the association is reflected on its independent balance sheet. When subordinated to the association of independent enterprises and organizations, their property is accounted for on the independent balance sheets of these enterprises and organizations. In such cases, the union forms a consolidated balance sheet.

The following funds are being created in the scientific and production association:

• association development fund;
• incentive payments fund;
• fund for social and cultural programs and housing construction;
• depreciation fund;
• bonus fund.

The procedure for the formation and expenditure of funds is determined by the current legislation and this Regulation.

The scientific and production association assigns to the structural unit of the association part of the basic and part of the working capital of the association necessary for the implementation of the plans approved by this structural unit. Working capital is fixed in accordance with the established norms (standards).

The structural unit of the association receives at its disposal a part of the funds, the amount of which is determined by the Director General of the GNPO in agreement with the relevant management bodies of the GNPO in proportion to the share of participation of each structural unit of the association in the creation and production of goods and services.

The total size (standard) of the research and production association's own working capital, their growth or reduction are approved in accordance with the established procedure based on planned tasks and in accordance with the norms of consumption and inventory of inventory values.

The working capital assigned to the association within the limits of the standard cannot be withdrawn from it by a higher authority.Excessive working capital (in excess of the standard) may be withdrawn from the association by a higher authority only in the order of redistribution according to the annual report of the association or when the standard of own working capital changes due to changes in the scientific and production plan of the association.

Buildings, structures, operating equipment and other fixed assets assigned to the scientific and production association may be transferred to other organizations and enterprises in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Russian Federation by a special decree of the Government.

Temporarily unused buildings and structures, production, warehouse and other premises, equipment, vehicles and other objects related to fixed assets, a scientific and production association may lease to other organizations and enterprises. The rent for buildings, structures and premises is charged in the amount not exceeding the amounts of depreciation deductions and fees for funds for this type of property. Excess and unused material values (equipment, vehicles, materials, fuel, etc.) are sold by the scientific and production association in accordance with the established procedure. The amounts received as a result of the sale of tangible assets related to working capital remain at the disposal of the association as its working capital. At the same time, the amounts from the sale of excess raw materials and materials purchased earlier at the expense of budgetary allocations for scientific purposes are counted against the current financing of these works or are included in the budget income. The amounts received from the sale of tangible assets related to fixed assets remain at the disposal of the association and are sent to the association's development fund.

Depreciation deductions intended for the full restoration of fixed assets, in the prescribed amounts, remain at the disposal of the association and are included in the development fund of the association. The rest of the depreciation deductions intended for the full restoration of fixed assets are directed in accordance with the current legislation to finance centralized capital investments. The size of the funds of the material incentive fund and the housing construction fund, as well as the standards of deductions from profits to these funds and to the development fund of the association for scientific and industrial association as a whole are determined in accordance with the established procedure by a higher authority in coordination with the relevant relevant executive authorities of the Russian Federation. The rights and obligations of GNPO in the field of planning.

The scientific and production association develops, in accordance with its specialization, and submits to the higher authority for approval drafts of annual and medium-term (3-5 years) plans for the development of science and technology and production, as well as proposals for draft plans for a longer period. The draft plans developed by the association should ensure the novelty and prospects of the scientific and technical solutions envisaged for implementation, the economic effect of using the results of completed works, the practical contribution of the association to improving the technical level of production and technical and economic indicators of the relevant production enterprises, as well as the mutual linking of all sections of the plans and the maximum use of internal reserves is provided.

The Scientific and Production Association develops and approves the topics of initiative work on the implementation of individual scientific and technical proposals, as well as the topics of exploratory research in fundamentally new scientific and technical areas corresponding to the profile of the association, taking into account fundamental research conducted by scientific organizations of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other state branch academies.

The federal executive authority considers, with the involvement of a scientific and production association, and approves to it the planned tasks for scientific and production activities in accordance with the federal system of indicators established for scientific and production associations and provides the association with the appropriate material, technical, financial resources and the salary fund necessary to perform these tasks.

Data on the plans for the participation of GNPO in federal target programs are not approved by a higher authority, but are developed by the association and used by planning authorities as calculation materials to justify the amount of additional funding. The planned tasks for the structural units of the association are set by the general director of the association.
The Scientific and Production Association, in accordance with the indicators approved by it, develops a medium-term three-year plan with the distribution of the most important tasks by year. The three-year plan is the main form of planning the scientific and production activities of the association.

The association, in accordance with the approved planning tasks for scientific and industrial activities, the development and introduction of new technology and concluded contracts, taking into account the topics of initiative work and exploratory research, develops an annual plan of research, development and design work, production and financial activities of the association (R&D plan), covering the activities of structural units associations, quarterly plans of scientific and production activities, as well as monthly plans of production activities.
The GNPO establishes for its constituent structural units the main indicators of the three-year, annual, quarterly and monthly plans that ensure the implementation of the planned tasks approved by the association with the greatest economic effect.

The structural unit of the association, based on the indicators established by the association, develops plans for scientific and industrial activities for the structural unit as a whole and for its structural divisions.

When a higher authority changes the planned tasks to the association, appropriate changes must be made simultaneously to all interrelated planned indicators, including the relationship with the budget, without changing the relationship of the higher authority with the federal budget.

When developing recommendations for improving the mechanisms of interaction of the applied (industry) research and development sector with the manufacturing sector, it is necessary to focus on:

• system-wide problems facing organizations of the public sector of science engaged in research and development, regardless of their scientific specialization;
• problems specific to industry organizations directly specializing in specialized areas;
• structural, fiscal and financial problems facing industrial enterprises.

The scientific potential of organizations specializing in applied research and development is extremely heterogeneous, in any case, within the framework of this study, it was not possible to identify obvious leaders. In the RAS system, the SSC system and universities, there are somewhat more effective organizations and groups, there are somewhat less effective ones. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that the applied groundwork that exists in the Russian Federation is largely connected with Soviet developments, which are not always relevant in a market economy with other connections, motivations and incentives. At the same time, it is possible to note the successes of newly formed small creative teams and groups with high scientific potential in the field of commercialization of developments.

The situation with personnel (as a reflection of the general problem of Russian science) and the material base of applied scientific organizations deserves special attention. Here, among the priority problems , the following are noted:

• Insufficient stock of personnel in the research and development sector (insignificant, in comparison with analogous foreign indicators, the cost of fixed R&D assets per employee);
• Low technical equipment of personnel in the research and development sector (insignificant, in comparison with analogous foreign indicators, the cost of machinery and equipment, including instrumentation, R&D per employee).

There remains a serious backlog in terms of large, expensive research complexes, primarily for conducting applied research. In addition, the existing equipment is often used inefficiently due to a lack of qualified service personnel, poor labor organization.

In order for the industrial sector interested in applied research and development to be ready to interact with research organizations at the level of a commercial order, it is necessary to solve a number of problems. On the one hand, the state industry order should become more formalized, not from the point of view of the complexity of competitive procedures, but from the point of view of a clear mapping of technological chains [7] arising on the way of implementation of the implemented applied research and development. On the other hand, it is necessary to create (and again, not from the point of view of formal availability, but from the point of view of the actual use of the RNTD) an implementation infrastructure focused not on the state, but on market economic entities.  Informing the public about the research and development that has been carried out and is ready for commercialization, as the Russian Academy of Sciences or the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (which, on the whole, is certainly positive), looks rather pointless for these purposes. On the other hand, it is necessary to create (and again, not from the point of view of formal availability, but from the point of view of the actual use of the RNTD) an implementation infrastructure focused not on the state, but on market economic entities.  Informing the public about the research and development that has been carried out and is ready for commercialization, as the Russian Academy of Sciences or the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (which, on the whole, is certainly positive), looks rather pointless for these purposes. There is a need for a market institute of innovative intermediaries (entrepreneurs), functionally responsible for the commercialization of R&D (including the invested funds of investors).

To form it , it is necessary:

• Eliminate existing gaps in the innovation support chain, especially at the seed financing stage. However, it will be difficult to attract business and venture capital to this stage at the present time — neither of them is satisfied with the too high risks of such investments. Unfortunately, established venture funds and private equity funds in the short term (in conditions of rapidly increasing monetary liquidity) will not be able to demonstrate normal profitability to their shareholders.
• To involve business in high-tech projects in the form of direct investments or through public-private partnerships. There may be conflicts of interest that will reduce the effectiveness of any project. The state strives to solve strategic long—term tasks - to support and develop a competitive applied research sector. The goal of private business, as a rule, is profit and stability. The natural conflict of motivations in this situation can be mitigated by providing business with benefits and preferences [8]. It is characteristic that representatives of the R&D sector also defend this point of view, since they understand that in the field of industry science it is important for business to create motivation for the introduction of innovative technologies. The applied research sector will not be able to be recreated unless large companies -consumers of innovative technologies - appear in the country. The applied research sector will not be able to be recreated unless large companies-consumers of innovative technologies in the field of RP - appear in the country.
• Eliminate the dramatic discrepancy between the timing of the "maturation" of innovative technologies (from 5 to 10 years) and the timing of financing innovative projects (1-3 years). This further increases the risks of investing in such projects for business, for the state itself, and directly for project managers. A newly created fund or corporation can easily be accused of inefficiency and lack of results in the short term, since the projects they are running are designed for longer periods.
• To start forming clusters of projects [9] in the field of branch science, which in the future will allow working with these projects more efficiently, with lower costs for each ruble invested by the state. It is characteristic that more than 80% of the experts we interviewed believe that in the field of branch science, which in the future will allow working with these projects more efficiently, with less costs for each ruble invested by the state. It is characteristic that more than 80% of the experts we interviewed believe that the break in the innovation cycle "fundamental research - applied research - industrial production" is the main obstacle to the commercialization of technologies.

In conclusion, we will make some important, in our opinion, conclusions. Among the reasons for the low demand for innovations, one can note both the insufficient level of competition in many domestic markets, and the unwillingness of many players to invest resources in long-term projects. The unwillingness of specific managers responsible for the relevant areas in domestic companies to take on the risk associated with the introduction of innovative technologies also plays a role. In such situations, preference is often given to either traditional technologies or ready-made, proven Western technological solutions (despite their significantly higher cost). It is worth noting, however, that some organizations manage to overcome inertia and, due to active interaction with potential consumers and willingness to adapt their technological solutions to their needs, find a steady demand for their high-tech products. These organizations need to be maintained in a priority order.

An important problem is that many technologies have a significant return on scale, therefore, in conditions of limited demand for innovations and distrust of domestic high-tech products, many promising developments cannot reach the stage of mass production. Assistance from the state, including in the form of the introduction of advanced technological standards, could help overcome this problem.

Currently, the sector of branch science is not sufficiently opaque, academic institutions and universities are also not transparent enough. Information about the activities of the institutes is mostly unavailable. The websites of most institutions are not informative enough. In such a situation, it is difficult to implement an effective state policy in the field of supporting scientific research and innovation, and there are no conditions for attracting private funds. The State should oblige subordinate institutions to regularly publish detailed reports on their activities, and the agencies in charge of them should monitor the publication of reports. The minimum list of information to be published must be approved by the Ministry of Education and Science. Detailed information about the activities of state scientific organizations, including microdata on individual scientific organizations, should be available to researchers. Increasing the transparency of the applied research sector would not only make it possible to implement public policy more effectively, but would also facilitate more effective interaction of research organizations with potential, consumers, potential partners and investors.

[1] See OECD (2002).
[2] 34% of federal executive authorities evaded the obligation to timely implement the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 645 of November 04, 2006 (in 2006 - 48%) and did not provide the necessary reports for the preparation of a consolidated report to the Government of the Russian Federation.
[3] The most significant own funds were allocated for research and development in the field of communications of FSUE "Scientific Research Institute of Radio" - 4365.8 thousand rubles and in the field of energy and energy conservation of FSUE "All-Russian Electrotechnical Institute named after V.I.Lenin" - 5823.0 thousand rubles.
[4] The recently proposed performance indicators of scientific organizations by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation appear to be excessively knowledge-intensive and overly concretized.
[5] When improving the existing system of granting statuses (SSC RF, FCNVT, FNPC) for state support to organizations of the applied science sector.
[6] In this case, there is no question of denying the approach to the priority of the university sector of science, but that the real scientific burden on the university sector will require such significant spending on education, which in the current economic conditions will be exorbitant for the state budget.
[7] It can be assumed that the state, fulfilling the role of a market player, will strive to formalize the institutional and legislative conditions of the existence of the market "for itself", but at certain stages of market development, this risk will have to be tolerated.
[8] Judging by the latest data, the Russian Government has already adopted this proposal.
[9] In this case, we are talking about the so–called roadmaps of technological development - detailed forecasts of the market promotion of RNTD, methodically based on advanced market analysis, competition conditions, feasibility studies, design documentation, etc. Currently, such maps are being developed by some subjects of innovation activity.
[10] The so-called anti-crisis plan of the Government of the Russian Federation presented recently suggests a number of measures aimed at subsidizing Russian companies.
[11] Methodically, in accordance with this model, project groups are built as small multidisciplinary teams, whose members share responsibility among themselves and complement each other's areas of competence. This makes it possible to focus attention on the needs of the project.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru12.02.2009