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Soviet Union [USSR] Planning
After formulating the nation's broad science and technology
policy, the CPSU issued directives to the governmental organs
responsible for planning specific programs. At the all-union level,
planning involved the Council of Ministers, GKNT, the Academy of
Sciences, Gosplan, and, to a much lesser extent, the Supreme
Soviet.
The Council of Ministers was responsible for implementing the
party's broad directives. It frequently issued decrees that
reflected science and technology decisions made by the Politburo.
These decrees served as the base on which science and technology
plans and programs were formed. The council also confirmed the
five-year plans and the annual plans for science and technology,
developed measures to improve management of research and
development, and resolved issues relating to authors' and
inventors' rights, cadre training, and labor wages. The council
operated primarily through its Presidium, whose membership included
heads of many agencies concerned with science and technology.
Founded in 1965 and subordinate to the Council of Ministers,
GKNT functioned as the central organ responsible for overall
coordination of scientific and technological programs. GKNT met
once or twice a year to decide major policy directions. Between
meetings it relied on a collegium to meet weekly to examine issues.
GKNT oversaw the work of a small number of research institutes.
The administrative functions of GKNT included working with the
Academy of Sciences and other interested organizations to plan and
coordinate the development of science and technology. GKNT
contributed to the five-year planning process by drafting a list of
major problems and working with relevant state committees and the
Academy of Sciences to develop proposals. GKNT evaluated the level
of scientific and technological development in branches of the
economy and worked with science and technology policy-making bodies
to develop methods to improve research and innovation. GKNT also
played an important role in coordinating and in monitoring
interbranch problems, i.e., those that involved more than one
industrial ministry. Proposals to conduct a project on an
interbranch problem were submitted by a ministry to GKNT for
approval. GKNT then oversaw the implementation of the project. GKNT
also was responsible for improving the flow of information within
the research and development infrastructure. Finally, GKNT was
responsible for establishing and maintaining communications with
foreign countries on science and technology cooperation and on the
purchase of foreign technologies.
Another key organization was the Academy of Sciences, which
both administered and performed scientific research and
development. Working with GKNT and Gosplan, the academy coordinated
and produced research and development plans for its subordinate
research facilities and for any facility involved in a program
under its jurisdiction. The academy made proposals on funding,
personnel, and materials for research and development. It also
worked with GKNT to develop and submit to the Council of Ministers
proposals for introducing new technology and forecasting trends in
the economy.
The Academy of Sciences was responsible for translating
national plans into specific programs carried out by subordinate
facilities. It oversaw science and technology planning for its
divisions, regional branches, and the republic academies of
sciences.
As the nation's chief planning organ, Gosplan was responsible
for incorporating science and technology programs into the national
economic plan. It worked with GKNT and the Academy of Sciences to
plan the introduction of research and development results into the
economy, to determine the overall volume of needed capital
investment, and to decide funding levels for science and technology
programs, material supplies, training, and wages. Within Gosplan,
the Unified Science and Technology Department was the primary unit
engaged in science and technology planning. It was aided by
advisory councils and commissions organized in key economic
sectors.
Below the top policy-making level, science and technology plans
were implemented by the industrial ministries and the Academy of
Sciences. The Soviet economy has been organized and directed by a
complicated, centralized industrial system
(see Soviet Union USSR - Industrial Organization
, ch. 12). The leadership of each ministry was
responsible for planning science and technology programs carried
out within its specific industrial branch. The leaders based their
plans on the national economic plans given to them by the higher
authorities
(see Soviet Union USSR - Economic Planning and Control
, ch. 11).
The science and technology planning process involved four
levels of documents. The broadest plans spelled out the long-term
(fifteen to twenty years), comprehensive program. These documents
presented the best judgment of experts about future economic
trends, probable developments in science and technology, and the
resources needed to achieve those developments. The next level of
documents consisted of the main directions of economic and social
development, which included a section on the development of science
and technology. The developmental directions provided preliminary
targets for the first five years of the period covered and a very
general planning framework for the remaining years (the directions
can cover ten to fifteen years). The third-level document was the
five-year plan and the annual plans derived from it. This has been
the key document used by branch managerial organs to organize their
work. The final document, the institute plan, was based on the
five-year plan and described the research and development projects
to be undertaken by a particular institute.
Data as of May 1989
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