The scientific personnel of the region are the most important elements of scientific and technical potential. Their quantity, structure, quality and efficiency of their use define the possibility of further development of the regional economy.

Analysis shows that under difficult economic condition only those enterprises have survived and continue to develop, which have preserved the scientific personnel and which continue scientific and technical development of modern technologies and new types of product. The most powerful scientific potential is concentrated in universities, there are more than 30 of them in Smolensk region.

Only in 8 large Smolensk universities more than 800 Ph.D.s (candidates) and 130 Ph.D.s work. In a number of organizations of Smolensk region scientific and technical research is carried out. Those research works are unique for Russia and are connected with fundamental research.

At the state enterprise “Production association “Crystal””, which is the leading Russian enterprise in diamond cutting; for 30 years research in the sphere of crystallography has been carried out and technological equipment for processing diamonds have been developed which has no analogues in the world.

Only one enterprise in Russia – “Plant of radiodetails” producers switchgears that are developed and researched in its own design office.

Technological equipment for enterprises producing accumulators is developed in Smolensk special design office of sourses of current.

At Smolensk aircraft plant in the laboratory of plasmatic cutting the sharpest in the world plasmatic cutters and scalpels are developed and made; they have no analogues in the world.

At production association “Analitpribor” due to steady research and empirical-design research work a variety of unique gas-analyzers has been created.

The first in the world artificial crystals – fianits – were created and manufactured at Golishkovsky plant “Steklopribor”.

Many machine-building enterprises of the region were included into the military-industrial complex and developed very fast during a certain period of time.

Under conditions of abrupt reduction of the military contracts large investments are required to introduce innovations to these enterprises.

The regional administration has formulated the main aim – to preserve the available potential and to stop the further decrease of production.

To achieve this goal it is necessary to develop the efficient mechanism of transformation of the results of research and experimental-design works into new technologies, which are capable of becoming the basis for introduction of innovations to a large number of factories at a qualitatively new level.