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Speech at meeting of the Council for Science and Education

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

Today, as we agreed, we are discussing our choice of priorities for science and technology development. In this context, we must set aside all narrow corporate lobbyism, prejudices and subjective approaches. The task is obviously a complex one, and so all decisions in this area must be as open and transparent as possible and based on principles that are clear to all.

In setting our priorities, we must take care not to restrict creative and research freedom and the right to experiment.

Another important point to keep in mind is that in setting our priorities, we must take care not to restrict creative and research freedom and the right to experiment. Some people, not without reason, seem to think that it is impossible in general to set priorities here, but nevertheless, we have to do this in order to organise our work more competently and, most important, provide financing.

We realise that science does not exist in a world apart and cannot develop in isolation from the country’s development tasks and from the geopolitical, economic, demographic, social and national security challenges that we encounter.

The world is changing very fast today, and these changes affect all areas of life, including science and technology. The leading countries try to respond flexibly to these trends and create new mechanisms for supporting and developing scientific research. We too must be ready for competition in this area. What is at stake is our scientific and technological sovereignty, and the need to ensure that external challenges and attempts to restrict our country or hold us back, as well as the weakness of our own scientific capabilities, do not become barriers for our development and growth.

Our aim is certainly not to try to do everything ourselves. I have already said before and say again now in relation to today’s subject that we do not seek autarchy in science and technology. This would be impossible. This kind of intellectual isolation would only lead us into backwardness. But if we can establish our leadership in a number of key areas, develop technology on which our partners will depend, and at the same time be quick to absorb and make use of foreign developments, we will create the kind of interdependence that can substantially bolster our position and put us on an equal footing with the other actors in the technological development process. This would also insure us against various risks.

I want to note several important points.

First, we have spoken many times about the need to develop Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic, build up our industrial potential and ensure our food security. These tasks call for completely new and original technological solutions in areas such as energy conservation, production and transport of energy resources, and generally making our economy better armed in the energy sense. Rational use of natural resources is another big issue. We still have not resolved this issue and are displaying a wastefulness that we cannot afford.

We have spoken many times about the need to develop Siberia, the Far East and the Arctic, build up our industrial potential and ensure our food security. These tasks call for completely new and original technological solutions.

I ask the heads of the energy production and mining companies and our industrial enterprises to pay more attention to these matters when planning their spending on research and development and environmental programmes, and organise practical work with Russian scientists involved in energy conservation.

It is equally important to concentrate on developing Russian-made production of equipment and machine tools. This is the basic foundation for developing our country’s industrial and defence industry capabilities.

We also need to work on improving people’s quality of life, of course. This includes advanced medical technology, production of healthy foodstuffs, environmental issues, and safe materials for housing construction. In short, this includes everything that gives people a long, comfortable and active life.

Second, we need to define the actual concept and content of science and technology development priorities. These priorities should have clear aims and measurable performance indicators and implementation mechanisms. They need to have strong analytical and resource support.

Third, it is clear that we must not set too many priorities because this would devalue the very notion of a priority. At the same time, if we choose some specific key areas, we must ensure that they receive financing in full. We need to learn how to concentrate our resources where they are needed and trim away the weak and uncompetitive organisations in the science and education sector. We discussed this matter yesterday evening in quite some detail with some of those present here today, in application, true, to fundamental science and science in general.

We need to work on making our use of budget money more effective in general. The current system of budget planning in science and education is still very vague and lacks unified, clear criteria for measuring how effectively money is spent. I ask the Government to give this matter its attention and propose solutions.

We need to work on making our use of budget money more effective in general. The current system of budget planning in science and education is still very vague and lacks unified.

Fourth, it is clear that depending on the priorities we set, we will also need to train personnel and develop the scientific infrastructure. There are many issues in this area to do with whether we develop our own infrastructure or whether we use what our partners can offer.

I want to conclude with the following proposal. I think that following today’s discussion, we need to start work on drafting a long-term strategy for Russia’s science and technology development. This should be a document based on the work and advances we already have, and at the same time, it should also look to the future and the promising intellectual breakthroughs ahead. It should take into account too the completely new challenges we face both from outside and inside. Of course, it should also follow the logic of raising the role of science as one of the most important instruments and institutions for society’s development.

Thank you very much for your attention.

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Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, thank you very much for today’s discussion.

We met today to discuss drafting a long-term strategy for developing science and technology in Russia and setting the principles for choosing our priorities in this area. There were many interesting and substantive remarks. Some of you made reference to historical analogies, including our atomic project, a subject we often come back to, and the rocket project. What can I say? Life itself set these priorities and they were dictated above all by the need to ensure the country’s survival. It was as simple as that and all possible efforts were put into these projects.

Science does not exist in a world apart and cannot develop in isolation from the country’s development tasks and from the geopolitical, economic, demographic, social and national security challenges that we encounter.

Similar motivations exist to some extent today too, but our tasks in the modern world are broader and more diverse, and so it is harder for us to even decide today what is most important, even in terms of ensuring our country’s defence capability and security. But to make sure we do not overlook anything, in this area, as in others, we need to organise work properly so as ensure quality and make sure that our country’s resources are used effectively.

A lot was said here today about the corps of chief designers and the selection of talented young people. In fact, we need to start not just in the universities, but right from the school classrooms. [Rector of  Background information Moscow State University (MSU) Moscow State University] Viktor Sadovnichy gave the example of how many specialists are leaving the country. We no doubt all know, though maybe some are not aware, about the so-called foreign funds that work in our schools and the network organisations that have been roaming about our schools for many years now under the guise of providing support for our talented young people. In reality, they are like vacuum cleaners, sucking up our graduates right from the schoolroom, getting them hooked on grants and taking them out of the country. This is something that needs our attention too.

The humanitarian dimension is certainly important, as is the issue of bringing what we eat into line with our genetic demands. It is very important to define where we need applied science, and where we need fundamental science. [President of the Russian Academy of Sciences] Mr Fortov spoke about this, and the colleagues on my left raised this issue too.

Before I came here, I spent quite some time on the telephone, talking with my Japanese colleague, the Japanese Prime Minister. Japan is a country that offers a good example of getting business involved in resolving the tasks facing applied science. As I mentioned, we met in quite narrow format yesterday and discussed behind closed doors some of the same issues that we are discussing now, without the cameras and suchlike around, had a cosier discussion about what to do. After all, the amount of budget money that we put into applied science is considerably higher than elsewhere in the world. Japan cannot compare with us here. In other countries, business spends far more money on applied science. But for this to happen, business needs to be encouraged to invest in this area. We have not been doing this, but we should.

But you also said that the research you are carrying out now is on order from the United Shipbuilding Corporation and the Zvezdochka plant. In your case then, business is involved, but this kind of involvement should be the norm and take place on a much bigger scale than it does now.

But business will never start investing in fundamental research this way. This is why we are saying that the state authorities need to pay greater attention to this area of science. It would be fairer to say, of course, that there is no fundamental and applied science, only good science and bad science. I cannot but agree with this, but the simple truth of the matter is that business will not invest money in fundamental science. But we need to develop every area and the state authorities must not forget about the basic scientific values too. This is what the issue is about.

It is equally important to concentrate on developing Russian-made production of equipment and machine tools. This is the basic foundation for developing our country’s industrial and defence industry capabilities.

In conclusion, I want to say that as far as developing a strategy goes, this is just the first step in the discussion, the first attempt. We need to settle on the principles for selecting our priorities, but as [General Director of Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev Company] Mr Testoyedov said, the most important task is not to lose anything. This is certainly true. We must not overdo it with the regulation. It would be a terrible mistake if we signed our agreement to everything and said we’re going to take care of this, that and the other. But you know how things always end up in bureaucratic organisations, and the state is a bureaucratic organisation, after all, and not just a repressive apparatus. In the end, everyone would spend all their time on this and forget about everything else. This work needs a careful approach and further thorough separate discussions. Let me repeat that what we are doing today is just the first step.

At the same time, we cannot have an infinite number of these priorities that we will set out in the strategy, or else we will simply drown in them all. This is not an easy task, but we need to resolve it, and I am sure that we can do this together. I am counting on your help and support. The Presidential Executive Office and the Government will work on this of course, but with support from the academic community and this Council.

Thank you very much.