Local literates: regional educational centers will be developed in the Russian Federation

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to take into account in the federal budget for the next three years the costs of creating large scientific and educational centers in the regions. Financing should cover not only the launch of such sites, but also their subsequent work, as well as the implementation of development programs. Which regions have the most potential for development, which scientific centers Russia needs, and how much it can cost — in the Izvestia article.

Science financing

The volume of federal support for civil science in 2025 amounted to 850 billion rubles. Compared to 2023, the amount increased by 158.2 billion rubles. The share of science in federal budget expenditures reached 2.9%, while relative to GDP it remained at the level of 0.4%. At the same time, the actual costs could exceed the approved targets.

The main part of the funds went to applied research — 538.6 billion rubles (63.4%). Financing increased by 3.2% compared to 2023. About 75% of these funds were allocated to research in the interests of the national economy, and about 9% each were allocated to healthcare and national tasks.

The main instrument for supporting research and development remained the state program "Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation", which accounted for 78.3% of the appropriations. Eight national technological leadership projects received 184.9 billion rubles for scientific purposes. The largest amounts fell on the projects "Industrial support for transport mobility" — 66.3 billion rubles, "Development of space activities of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030 and for the future up to 2036" — 57.8 billion rubles, "New nuclear and energy technologies" — 25.4 billion rubles and "Unmanned aircraft systems" — 17 billion rubles. Another 41.9 billion rubles were allocated to civil science as part of six other national projects.

Estimated contribution: Russia will increase funding for science and education

What did the president talk about with young scientists and what problems remain in high-tech areas?

In total, 226.8 billion rubles, or 26.7% of federal expenditures on civil science, were allocated for scientific tasks within the framework of NPTL and other national projects. Among individual projects, Youth and Children received the largest funding — 28.8 billion rubles.

The increase in expenses was related to the task of Russia's technological leadership and the need to bring domestic research and development costs to at least 2% of GDP by 2030, in accordance with Decree No. 309 of the President of the Russian Federation dated 05/07/2024.

Main centers

The main scientific centers of Russia were concentrated in several regions. Moscow and the Moscow Region remained the largest scientific cluster: the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University and the science cities of Korolev, Dubna, Zhukovsky, Chernogolovka and Troitsk worked here, where physics, space and aviation technologies developed.

St. Petersburg maintained its status as one of the leading centers thanks to specialized institutes, universities, and historical research institutions, including the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Akademgorodok and Koltsovo Science City, specializing in biology, nuclear physics and IT, played a key role in the Novosibirsk Region.

In the Sverdlovsk region, scientific activity was concentrated primarily in Yekaterinburg and the institutions of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where metallurgy, materials science and physics were developing. The Tomsk Region and Tomsk remained prominent centers of university science, electronics, and the development of new materials.

In the Kaluga region, Obninsk was an important scientific center, which received the status of the first science city in Russia. The city specialized in nuclear energy and nuclear technology.

Requirements from the centers

The centers of artificial intelligence, robotics, microelectronics, new materials, biotechnology, medicine, nuclear energy, space and unmanned systems are especially important for modern Russia. Such sites can be developed in Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, taking into account the specialization of each region.

The creation of one large center could cost about 15-30 billion rubles. This would include the construction of laboratories, the purchase of equipment, the creation of computing power and the preparation of infrastructure for scientists. Another 3-6 billion rubles per year could be required for the maintenance of the complex, equipment upgrades and scientific projects. If 10 such centers were created, initial investments could amount to 150-300 billion rubles, and annual expenses could amount to 30-60 billion rubles. The exact amount would be determined by the profile of the center and the cost of the equipment.

The Big Bang Theory: how domestic megascience helps to unravel the mysteries of the Universe

Investments in fundamental physics are becoming an investment in the development of the whole country

The performance assessment should take into account the volume of R&D orders from enterprises, the number of technologies that have been pilot-operated, license revenues, equipment utilization by external users, the number of high-performance jobs created and the center's ability to attract researchers from other regions, Murad Binyatov, head of the Directorate of Priority Educational Initiatives at the Presidential Academy's Faculty of General Academic Affairs, told Izvestia. Publication activity remains important for assessing scientific quality, but it cannot serve as the main indicator of the center's influence on the economy.

— The requirement of rapid self—sufficiency would also be erroneous, - he noted. — Fundamental research needs stable long-term funding. A more rigid model is justified for the applied portfolio: as the center develops, the share of funds from industrial contracts, the regional budget and other extra-budgetary sources should increase.

A modern regional scientific center should not be another legal entity, building and permanent budget item, Yaroslav Avdiyev, an expert of the Popular Front, confirmed to Izvestia. His task is to bring together university and academic science, small technology companies, large industrial customers and regional infrastructure in one technological cooperation and be responsible for the entire chain from research to prototype and industrial implementation. Moreover, the specialization of such a center should be determined not administratively, but based on the technological profile of the region, existing industry and real long-term demand.

The center should provide developers with the infrastructure that is currently insufficient for the transition from R&D to the market: testing grounds and test environments based on leading enterprises and universities, the opportunity to test the solution in conditions as close as possible to real operation, access to industry data.

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