In general, Soviet procedures for evaluating R&D 

 results and performers tend to be formal and highly 

 structured. The work of both individuals and insti- 

 tutions is evaluated primarily in terms of their for- 

 mal fulfillment of thematic and financial plans, not 

 on the basis of the real value of their S&T achieve- 

 ments. There is a strong tendency therefore to pro- 

 pose "safe" and relatively minor themes, whose param- 

 eters are fairly well known and results more certain. 

 As Academician Ya. Kolotyrkin comments, "An institute 

 can fulfill its subject and financial plans year af- 

 ter year without contributing anything to technical 

 progress. "9" 



Recently efforts to tie R&D planning and resource 

 allocation, management and incentive programs to end 

 results — the ultimate application of technology in 

 new products and processes — have mounted. Throughout 

 this study we have mentioned the increasingly ubiqui- 

 tous though still ambiguous measure of "economic re- 

 turn or effectiveness." If the utilization of R&D 

 was almost ignored in science policy in the past, then 

 since the late 1960s it has come to have almost exag- 

 gerated emphasis. There are important limitations, 

 however, on the utility of practical application as a 

 criterion for evaluating R&D results and performers. 

 Some science specialists contend that R&D organiza- 

 tions should not be evaluated in terms of the final 

 stages of the innovation process in which they still 

 have little direct participation, much less control. 

 Furthermore, the evaluation of results and real re- 

 turns must be long range because of the necessarily 

 protracted process of moving results from the lab in- 

 to use. Hence, the operational character of evalua- 

 tion is lost, and its motivating role is diminished. 9 ' 

 As 0. I. Volkov notes, scientific R&D organizations 

 cannot be evaluated by the same criteria as production 

 establishments. They require an independent system of 

 indicators, instruments, and special organization of 

 management which, though closely linked with the eco- 

 nomy, possesses at the same time necessary autonomy. 98 

 Science has its own internal development needs which 

 must be attended to, besides its external relations 

 and linkages with production. 



237 



