KALUGA, February 5, 2004 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has to adopt free market arrangements to promote innovations development, Andrei Fursenko, Russian acting Industry, Science and Technology Minister, said at a conference of regional executive authorities on Thursday. The conference agenda was dominated by issues related to the development of the national innovative system for the period of up to 2010 and involved the Russian president's envoy to the Central Federal District Georgy Poltavchenko, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Aleshin and First Deputy Security Council Secretary Vladislav Sherstyuk.
"There is little understanding that science development is not a kind of extra-curricular activity, but a serious task of developing new markets," said Mr Fursenko.
The state can promote innovations by demonstrating opportunities offered by scientific progress, he said.
"The state must be responsible for certain sectors, while co-ordinating activities and supporting the whole R&D complex," noted Mr Fursenko. There must be no more than 4-5 avenues of scientific thought, but they must correspond to available resources.
