The development of science is impossible without the state support, and the government will try to maintain all the programs existing in this area, the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
"This week, I chaired a meeting of the Presidential Council on strategic development. We discussed the development of higher education. There are a number of projects, which we will implement as part of the project approach," he said at the 'Development of higher education' forum in St. Petersburg.
"It's an illusion that science will develop through only internal sources and direct support from the commercial sector," the Prime Minister noted.
The head of the Russian government pointed to the need of business involvement in support of science, but added that "the state will still play a leading role." Such an order exists "in the most advanced" countries with "an absolutely market economy," he stressed.
The Prime Minister also approved the allocation of the planned financing of research universities in addition to grant support.
The participants of the forum noted the need for not only grant support for research universities, drawing attention to the fact that leading edge research cannot be conducted only under a grant, because the work of engineers and technicians requires a planned and regular funding.
"At the moment the allocation of 315 billion rubles to support science is planned in the budget for 2016," Medvedev noted.
"But how to use it the right way is a separate issue," he stressed.
