Opening Address at the Session of the Council for Science, Technology and Education.Part 1
November 30, 2007
Moscow
Вступительное слово на заседании Совета по науке, технологиям и образованию.
30 ноября 2007 года
Москва
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, dear Council members!
Today's agenda contains one very important issue. I am referring to the 2008-2012 programme for fundamental scientific research. This is the first time that we are adopting a separate programme for this issue and, in large part, this is thanks to the initiative of the Academy of Sciences. And for the first time in many years a significant amount of funding will be allocated to fundamental science. We will guarantee its regular and stable financing throughout the next five years.
I would also to point out that total budgetary spending on science in 2007 amounted to over 200 billion rubles. This is nearly five times more than what we spent in 2000. Five times more! And the total expenditures on science will double again by 2010. If we take into account what Russian business plans to spend in this sector about 600 billion rubles then the amount will double again in the next two years. Along with this, I would, nevertheless, like to draw your attention to certain disturbing trends.
The cabinet members and I discussed certain provisions concerning today's meeting and they noticed the following: the more budgetary resources come into the system, the less business invests in this sector. In fact, business gets squeezed out. They are not needed. And why is that? Because everything is stable and secure. And this is wrong: we need to create incentives to attract money from businesses.
As you can imagine, all of this - all of the issues associated with the increase in funding are important resources that should help encourage the development of science in Russia. There are not only representatives from the Russian Academy of Sciences here, there are also leaders from all public academies. And we are, of course, perfectly aware that fundamental research is a crucial part of science. We believe that this is the basis of its development and, last but not least, the starting point of the entire cycle of innovation.
In connection with this the rapid development of fundamental science will become a necessary condition for the modernization of the entire Russian economy, and for assuming a leading position in the global division of labour. For that reason the programme's priorities, as well as the tools for its implementation, should be directed towards ensuring that academic scientific research has a tangible result for state and society.
You know that in recent years we were able to do more than simply retain science's intellectual base; we were also able to provide significant support to a number of new and promising fields, including nanotechnology, nuclear energy, optoelectronics, bioinformatics, bioengineering and other directions.
We have significantly strengthened science's legal base, we have adopted an up-to-date law on science, and science and technology policy that contains the elements of the programme we are discussing today.
As you are well aware, just a few years ago the Russian cabinet approved a new charter for the Russian Academy of Sciences that consolidates the legal status of the main Academy as well as expands its possibilities, autonomy and spheres of responsibility.
Along with this I would like to draw your attention to the fact that increased autonomy goes together with increased responsibility. We need to think about optimizing the network: there are 600 enterprises of which only 400 are involved directly in scientific research. The remaining 200 are not.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Academy of Sciences is not a commercial organisation. Its main purpose is research, not commercial activities for profit. This also applies to the 200 institutions that are not engaged in scientific research activities. I would like to draw your attention to this.
We already have the results of a pilot project to improve the wages paid within the Russian Academy of Sciences. Just recently it was hard to believe that we would be able to achieve quick and passable results in this sector. And, in general, the Academy of Sciences and its leadership was able to achieve them. Researchers' average salaries have more than doubled and, of course, they will continue to increase.
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В.Путин.Прямая линия.27.09.05.Part 16by niknikolay941 views
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