Recent Developments in the Administration of Branch Ministry Research

Abstract

The vast bulk of Soviet R&D is done in the branch sector, that is, in the R&D organizations subordinate to the ministries responsible for individual industries (branches). One Soviet source states that 61% of R&D personnel work in the branch sector, while 82% of funding is spent there.¹ The sector covers an enormous range of disciplines and technologies, ranging from the highest-tech to the lowest, from industries in which decentralization is essential to others where a high degree of centralization in technological management might seem feasible. Generalization is therefore difficult and dangerous. However, there appear to be two good reasons to attempt an analysis of the branch sector, even in a chapter as brief as this one. The first is the sheer bulk of Soviet R&D resources devoted to it. The second is that it is the branch sector which is most regularly and roundly subjected to criticism for its technological failings. Indeed with it now being officially recognized that economic development depends almost entirely on technological advance, the branch ministries and their R&D organizations are made the scapegoats for all the problems of the Soviet economy.

Research for this paper was made possible by an Economic and Social Research Council (UK) grant Reference No. FOO 232070