MOSCOW, August 27The action of Western sanctions against Russia helped to understand that science is not a social niche, but a necessary tool for the development of the country, domestic scientists must now work to achieve concrete results, said Andrey Fursenko, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Science and Education.
«The advantage of the sanctions turned out to be that everyone understood that science is not a social sphere… They treated science like this: all that is needed is technology, if we don't have it, you can buy it, attract it from abroad «And suddenly it turned out that not everyone can be attracted. And then it became clear that development (of the country) without science is impossible,» Fursenko said on Sunday at the Territory of Meanings forum.
According to Fursenko, today in Russia «the attitude towards science as an instrument of economic development is much more serious.» But this requires a «very serious» restructuring of the work of scientists, he said. «Scientists should work in a different way,» the presidential aide emphasized.
Fursenko recalled the popular definition of science as a process of «satisfying one's own curiosity (researchers) at public expense.» «It has receded into the background. We now have to do not what we want, not what we like, but what is necessary,» he added.
This concerns fundamental science to a lesser extent, but in applied research, the request for specific results is now much more important, Fursenko explained. At the same time, it is very important to choose priorities and set tasks correctly for scientists, he added. .ru/20230822/nauka-1891434928.html» data-title=»VEB.RF proposed launching a program for academic science»>