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Foreign Tech Flow to Russia Plummets to Lowest Level Since the 1990s
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In 2025, foreign applicants submitted just 4,701 patent applications for inventions to Rospatent, according to estimates by experts at the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.
These submissions dropped by 9.5% in a single year and have fallen by almost 60% compared to 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as reported by The Moscow Times on August 11.
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Non-residents file these applications when bringing technical know-how into Russia to legally import technology, protect intellectual property from unauthorized copying, and license products for the Russian market.
The overall volume of foreign patent applications in Russia has fallen to its lowest point since at least the 1990s. By comparison, international applicants registered 13,778 inventions with Rospatent in 2010, nearly three times the 2025 figure.
In 2000, foreign filings stood at 5,311, which is 13% higher than the latest annual numbers. Western nations, previously the primary source of incoming foreign technology, experienced the steepest declines. US filings plunged from 2,400 in 2020 to 745 in 2025.
German applications sank by 84.4%, falling from 1,300 to 203, while filings from Japan fell by 75%, dropping from 1,200 to 288 over the same period. This decline contributed to a overall drop in total patent applications filed in Russia.
In 2025, overall filings reached 26,494, representing a 25% decrease compared to 2020. Domestic creation of new technology saw little growth over the past year.
Inventions originating within Russia rose by only 1.4% in 2025, reaching 21,793 applications. This slow pace comes despite persistent calls from Vladimir Putin to quickly replace lost Western technology.
Previously, it was reported that Russia’s domestic spending on research and development has fallen to 0.97% of its GDP, placing it behind Malaysia (1.01%), Egypt (1.03%), and Lithuania (1.05%).
The data shows a significant gap between Russia and global leaders in research funding. Israel leads the world by allocating 6.35% of its GDP to R&D, which is more than six times Russia's share.
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