01 November 2012, 18:20 Science Text size A A A

“We cannot allow spending on science to fall”

Dmitry Medvedev sent the state program for the development of science and technology in the Russian Federation for revision

Dmitry Medvedev: “Under no circumstances should we allow a drop in spending on science”

ITAR-TASS Dmitry Medvedev sent for revision the state program for the development of science and technology in the Russian Federation from 2013 to 2020 and announced that the winners of presidential grants will soon finally receive funds for 2012.

On Thursday, at a government meeting, Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov presented the State Program for the Development of Science and Technology in the Russian Federation for the period from 2013 to 2020. In his speech, the minister noted that the program “is aimed at creating a competitive sector of Russian scientific research and ensuring its leading role in the processes of technological modernization of our country.”

The program is designed to respond to the following challenges facing Russian science: - insufficient effectiveness and weak demand for the results of fundamental and applied research;
— limited interest and weak participation of business in the field of scientific research and development and non-competitive conditions for leading scientists to work in Russia;
— a generational gap in science, caused by the catastrophic weakening of support for the scientific field in the 1990s and the departure of young people from it;
— weak integration of the Russian research and development sector into the international scientific and technological space;
— obsolescence of the material base of the sphere of scientific research and development.

Livanov said that Russian science faces challenges such as a weak demand for the results of Russian scientists, a weak connection between business and science, the problem of generations and outdated equipment.

According to the program, by 2020 the share of funds allocated to science should reach 3% of GDP.

By the same period, results should be achieved such as an increase in the number of publications and citations of Russian scientists, an increase in the share of extra-budgetary funds for research and development - from approximately 30 to 60%, an increase in the average salary of scientists, the emergence of new forces (a third of the number of researchers should be young scientists), as well as equipment replacement.

The total amount of funds required to implement the program is about 1 trillion rubles.

At the same time, the draft program involves the allocation of 145.7 billion rubles for science and technology in 2013, 116.3 billion in 2014, and 127.7 billion rubles in 2015.

Even before the start of the meeting, it was known that according to the presented program, the Ministry of Education and Science had disagreements with the Ministry of Finance, namely, on the share that should be extra-budgetary funding. Speaking after Dmitry Livanov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that “it is possible to increase GDP spending on science, but not to such an extent,” and noted that he does not see “efforts on the part of the ministry to attract resources from the private sector.” Meanwhile, according to the draft state program, the share of extra-budgetary funds in domestic research and development costs should increase over seven years from approximately 30 to 60% (in earlier projects the figure was 70%).

The planned results of the state program are an increase in the number of publications by Russian scientists and their citations in international publication databases by almost 50%;
— an increase in the share of extrabudgetary funds in internal research and development costs from approximately 30 to 60%;
— bringing the average salary of scientific employees to the level of 200% of the average for the economy of the corresponding region, taking into account the principles of an effective contract;
— reduction in the average age of researchers and an increase in the proportion of researchers under 40 years of age to 35% of the total number of researchers;
— increase in the share of equipment under 5 years of age to 65% of the total volume of equipment.

, who then took the floor, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Osipov said: “If we want to make a breakthrough, the state is obliged to support science.

It is impossible for something to constantly warm and warm in science. Let's develop something.

And how can we talk about private science if nothing has been created?”

Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich did not entirely agree with the position of the Ministry of Finance . Dmitry Medvedev, in his closing speech, proposed to finalize the project.

“There are fears that we may not meet the target figures. But we must provide some source of development for science. The budget situation may become worse, as the Ministry of Finance says, and rightly so, but the situation may change for the better. These are the indicators included in the program, which envisages sharp growth starting from 2015. I think we should focus on the best in this regard. If for some reason it becomes clear that some provisions are not feasible, the program will need to be adjusted. But if the economic situation begins to improve, we need to focus on the development option, and not on the most conservative option.

However, under no circumstances should we allow spending on science to fall. Growth may be modest. But the fall does not fit in with our intentions.

I said yesterday that the state’s share in the innovation sector throughout the world remains very high. I am not a specialist in the development of science; we are all in favor of private capital coming into science. But the ratio of 30% to 70%, where 70% is private funds, is an unrealistic figure. This is nice for the budget, but not in our country, and not in most other countries. Taking into account the discussion, I propose to finalize the draft and submit it for signing.”

An open letter to the President of the Russian Federation from young scientists Dear Mr. President!

Young scientists of the Russian Federation, winners of grants from the President of the Russian Federation, turn to you with a request to sort out the latest bureaucratic problems that make it impossible to conduct scientific research in our country and destroy the functioning of the grant system.
On October 29, at a meeting of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, measures to improve scientific activity were discussed, in particular, issues of increasing the efficiency of the grant system for supporting scientific projects. You, Mr. President, personally noted that the grant model of financing science is an “effective tool.” Meanwhile, its effectiveness directly depends on the budgetary discipline of funding organizations, which is currently not regulated in any way, as a result of which situations arise that are contrary to common sense and undermine the basic principles of the functioning of the competitive financing system. For example, almost half of the holders of the prestigious grant from the President of the Russian Federation have still not received the funds due to them for 2012. However, they are already being required to report for research carried out with money not received by grant holders.

We are talking about laureates of grants from the President of the Russian Federation, working in the best scientific institutions of the country: Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University and institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The problems are related to changes in the new edition of the Budget Code of Russia: from January 1, 2012, a new procedure for financing grants is provided for organizations not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Science. To solve the problem, it is necessary to make changes to the regulations on the allocation of grants from the President of the Russian Federation. The draft government resolution on introducing such changes has been undergoing the approval procedure with the Ministry of Finance for several months. During October, the document had to go through the approval procedure at the Ministry of Justice and be approved by the government. Until this happens, scientists spend money on research from their own pockets, take out loans, and borrow money from their friends. We are talking about considerable sums: hundreds of thousands of rubles for one person. For many, all plans for original scientific research submitted and supported in a fair call for proposals have been completely or partially thwarted. The lack of funding for promising scientific research precisely because of bureaucratic red tape has an extremely negative impact on the state of the scientific community in Russia, since many understand that it is becoming more profitable to participate in foreign competitions, the procedures of which have a much more predictable bureaucratic component.

Amendments to the Budget Code on a new procedure for transferring funds to the accounts of organizations not subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science came into effect on January 1, 2012, and the names of the winners of the 2012 Presidential Grants of the Russian Federation were announced a month later, in February. During this period the problem could have been solved.

In connection with the above facts, we ask you to look into this situation, publicly name the officials responsible for the failure to timely finance the program in 2012, and take measures to prevent similar situations in the future. We include among such urgent measures the inclusion of mandatory funding deadlines in grant agreements and regulation of the responsibility of the granting organization for failure to comply with the temporary funding order. In addition, this situation clearly demonstrates that the scientific community needs to have tools for communication with supra-departmental structures in the Government of the Russian Federation in order to solve emergency problems of interdepartmental coordination of such programs.

It is now the beginning of November, and the problem has not yet been resolved. One gets the feeling that none of the officials bears responsibility for this situation. Do we, the grant winners, really have to independently track the movement of paper through the ministries and government apparatus in order to receive the money legally due to us?

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that a scientific report from grant winners is required until November 20. How can this be interpreted differently than demanding an account for research that was disrupted or for research performed for free? We ask you to order and postpone the deadline for submitting scientific and financial reports on grants from the President of the Russian Federation for 2012 for a period comparable to the one for which payments of funds for 2012 were delayed.

Sincerely,
heads of grants from the President of the Russian Federation for young scientists

(Signatures to the letter can be viewed at this link )

Before the start of the discussion of the state program for the development of science and technology until 2020 at a government meeting, in his opening remarks, Dmitry Medvedev commented on the problem with the payment of funds for 2012 - grants from the President of the Russian Federation to many Russian scientists.

“I know that many holders of the grant from the President of the Russian Federation (and these are young candidates and doctors of science and heads of leading schools) still have not received money for 2012,” said the head of government. — We are talking about those who work in organizations that are not directly subordinate to the Ministry of Education and Science. The reason is that the mechanism is flawed. I would like to say that I signed a resolution according to which the legal gap will be eliminated. The problem will be resolved soon."

Meanwhile, young scientists - holders of grants from the President of the Russian Federation, who did not receive funds for 2012, but from whom they are already demanding a report on the work on these unreceived funds, wrote an open letter to the President . On Thursday, this letter was sent to the reception of the president, the government and a number of ministries. The letter says: “To solve the problem, it is necessary to make changes to the regulations on the allocation of grants from the President of the Russian Federation. <4>The draft government resolution on introducing such changes has been undergoing the approval procedure with the Ministry of Finance for several months. During October, the document had to go through the approval procedure at the Ministry of Justice and be approved by the government.

Until this happens, scientists spend money on research from their own pockets, take out loans, and borrow money from their friends.

We are talking about considerable sums: hundreds of thousands of rubles for one person,” the letter says. — It’s now the beginning of November, and the problem has not yet been resolved. One gets the feeling that none of the officials bears responsibility for this situation. Do we, the grant winners, really have to independently track the movement of paper through the ministries and government apparatus in order to receive the money legally due to us?”

Scientists ask to understand this situation, publicly name the officials responsible for the failure to timely finance the program in 2012, and take measures to prevent similar situations in the future.