16:02 | 15/ 05/ 2008
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080515/107456204.html
MOSCOW. (Yury Zaitsev for RIA Novosti) - 2007 was a happy year for
Russian science. The country's leadership showed it understood that science
and science-intensive industry were at the core of the economy and key to
maintaining an independent foreign policy, sovereignty, and Russia's
position in the world's league of nations.
The Government allocated more than 250 billion rubles (over $10
billion) for a five-year program of fundamental research. Now all the novel
ideas in the country will follow an established pattern from conception to
commercial realization.
In 2006, the government invested 2.86 billion rubles in 13 projects
under the program, in addition to 3.6 billion rubles raised from private
sources. Industry responded by turning out 12 billion rubles' worth of hi
tech products.
The 2007 figures are even more impressive. Business investment in
science-intensive projects under the program jumped to 6 billion rubles,
which the government matched.