Transition to the knowledge and high technology economy in pandemic conditions: experience in Russia

The economy of knowledge and high technology has become one of the priority areas of innovativedevelopment of countries. A similar benchmark was set for the Russian government. However,global challenges have challenged its implementation. The purpose of the article is to assess the stateof the scientific sphere of Russia on the basis of statistical analysis, to highlight promising areas of itsdevelopment. An analysis of the development of the R & D sector revealed a number of problems: thelow share of the industry in the country’s GDP, the outflow of specialists abroad, the insufficient levelof business inclusion in scientific developments and, as a result, the low degree of commercializationof scientific developments. At the same time, the pandemic of 2019 became an impulse for thedevelopment of Russian science. In the context of the pandemic, Russia can take a strong positionon the world stage to diagnose and combat it, as well as supply other promising non-resource goodsand services to the world community in key sectors of modern science. These areas can become asolid basis for creating scientific international consortia and entering the world arena of Russian enterprises,which means accelerating the process of transition to the economy of knowledge and newtechnologies.Keywords: economics of knowledge and new technologies, state of scientific sphere, directionsof development, pandemic.