Moscow retains lead in Russian regional science and technology ranking

Moscow, Tatarstan and St Petersburg led a ranking of Russian regions' scientific and technological development for 2025, compiled by RIA Rating for RIA Novosti.

The leading trio accounted for more than 44% of Russia's shipments of innovative goods, work and services. The researchers attributed their positions to concentrations of research institutes, design bureaus and high technology manufacturing.

The leading ten also included Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Samara regions, Perm Territory, and Sverdlovsk, Tula and Novosibirsk regions. Novosibirsk replaced Tyumen Region in this group. Together, the leading ten accounted for 69% of the national volume of innovative goods, work and services.

Sakhalin Region made the largest advance, climbing 29 places. The researchers linked the improvement to a higher share of organisations undertaking innovation and increased innovative output. Bryansk Region rose 11 places, Tuva and Komi advanced 6 each, and Sevastopol gained 5. In total, 32 regions improved their positions.

The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area recorded a ranking change of −15 places, while Tyumen Region and Mari El each recorded −8. Ingushetia, Chechnya, Karachay-Cherkessia, the Jewish Autonomous Region and Transbaikal Territory occupied the bottom of the table. The average score of the leading ten was almost five times that of the lowest ten.

The study cited Rosstat figures showing that innovative goods and services represented 7.6% of total shipments in 2025, an increase of 1.6 percentage points. Their volume grew 28% from the previous year.

The ranking aggregates 19 Rosstat and Rospatent indicators into groups covering human resources, the material and technical base, and the scale and efficiency of scientific and technological activity. Criteria include research staffing, equipment, innovative output and patent activity. The resulting score ranges from 1 to 100.