Software self-sufficiency: the number of applications for registration of Russian software in 2024 increased by 13%

In 2024, Russian developers submitted more than 40,000 applications for registration of computer programs and databases to the Federal Intellectual Property Service (Rospatent). This exceeds the same indicator in 2023 by 13% and by a third in 2022. Such data is provided by the press service of Rospatent. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Technological efficiency of the economy

The press service of the Ministry of Energy reminded Izvestia that Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development, at the Rospatent board, noted the need to stimulate business to effectively manage intellectual property. The first steps have already been taken to achieve this: due to the digitalization of Rospatent's services, intellectual property registration has been simplified, tax incentives have been introduced to reduce business costs when creating and registering intellectual property, and secured loans have been launched.
The Agency will continue to encourage businesses to effectively manage intellectual property. First of all, to properly register it on the balance sheet, to increase the value of their assets, thereby increasing the indicator of the "technological efficiency" of the economy," the department added.

"In addition, as part of the task set by the president to achieve technological leadership, the government continues to stimulate the implementation of domestic research and development and promote the production of high-tech products. To this end, special attention is being paid to supporting small technology companies (MTS), the number of which in the register of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia has exceeded 4,500, and about 7 thousand more are expected by 2030. At the same time, one of the criteria for attribution to the MTK is the company's rights to the results of intellectual activity," the ministry said.

Market expansion

A further increase in the number of applications and, accordingly, the certificates received is expected, Roman Dushkin, a member of the Russian Association of Artificial Intelligence, developer of the course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Conversational Bots" at the Presidential Academy, told Izvestia.

— I have been personally registering software for several years now. In 2022, I received four computer software registration certificates, and in 2023— about ten. In 2024, he registered two or three. The procedure is really simple and accessible to everyone, even my students successfully complete it. I run an educational program, and we have many software development projects. If the job is decent, I recommend that students apply to register for the program. The certificate is useful for portfolios and resumes, especially for beginners," he explained.

However, according to him, it should be understood that registration by itself does not give anything special.

— We can register almost anything, — Rospatent verifies only the formal aspects of the application. Experts are usually loyal and positive. The certificate does not have much legal force and does not provide full protection of rights. But it can be useful in some cases, for example, when applying for grants," the expert said.

According to him, large companies rarely register programs, considering it an unnecessary waste of resources. However, in companies leading "patent wars" or in universities, such processes are put on stream. Perhaps the increase in the number of registered programs is related to this trend, the expert suggested.

As the Headhunter press service informed Izvestia, the number of new resumes for programmers/developers related to software in 2024 amounted to 189 thousand, an increase of 38% compared to 2023 and 50% compared to 2022.

However, Ilya Fridman, the founder of Digital Spirit and the Zakroma ecosystem of IT products, said in an interview with Izvestia that he did not expect the number of applications for registration of computer programs and databases to continue to grow in 2025. He believes that there may even be a slight decrease relative to 2024.

— All the main applications for registration of the basic and system software have already been submitted. In 2025, we can expect the emergence of new industry solutions, as the market is actively developing. It is such software that will make up the bulk of registrations. Previously submitted applications will also be re—submitted, for example, to divide them into modules," he explained.

Price forecasts

It is quite difficult to predict the future development of the software market with accuracy, but one thing is clear: you should not expect lower software prices in the near future, Sergey Lipov, Information technology director at Edgecenter, told Izvestia. The reason is that changes in this area are not happening as fast as many users and companies would like.

— In addition, it is important to understand that the registration of new software products does not guarantee their immediate market entry. Of the 40,000 registered programs, some may be experimental and designed to test new technologies and ideas," he noted.

Others, he said, may be designed for a very narrow audience and specific tasks, making them less suitable for mass use. There is also a possibility that some of these programs will never reach the stage of commercial implementation due to various factors such as insufficient funding, lack of market demand, or technical difficulties in development.

Thus, although the number of registered programs is impressive, the real impact on the market may be much less tangible than expected, the expert believes.

A large number of players in the software market in the Russian Federation has not yet become the basis for cost reduction, Vladislav Utkin, Technonicol's CIO, confirmed in an interview with Izvestia.

— Domestic software is not mass-produced yet, and new players are just beginning to "recapture" their investments, and due to the low-mass nature of the software market in Russia, this process will be long. If we compare our developers with global players, we are still only at the very beginning of the market development path and in the next 10-15 years, if there is no government support, we should not expect a decrease in the cost of software," he said.

Also, in his opinion, the cost of development is strongly influenced by the cost of the developers themselves. Unfortunately, it is now quite high in Russia due to low unemployment and a shortage of personnel.

Along with the increase in the number of applications for registration of Russian software, there is an increase in the number of companies in the industry, which has already exceeded 200 thousand units, as well as the growth of the IT market in value terms, Ekaterina Shchekina, Associate Director for Corporate Ratings at Expert RA, noted in an interview with Izvestia.

According to Shchepkina, import substitution of IT solutions remains an urgent task and the main driver of the market this year, so it is likely that the high pace of development of domestic solutions and the trend towards increasing the cost of using and maintaining domestic software will continue due to the lack of competition with foreign suppliers.

— In addition, tax factors will affect price dynamics this year: an increase in the income tax rate to 5% for IT companies, the introduction of VAT from 5% to 7% for companies operating under the simplified taxation scheme, and an increase in personal income tax. Because of this, manufacturers of domestic software will be forced to increase prices for their services," she added.

Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Finance, but no response had been received at the time of publication.