Cooperation between science and business in Russian manufacturing: The role of import substitution

To date, there are dozens of studies examining various aspects of import dependence and import substitution. Research on cooperation between science and business is also widespread in contemporary economic literature. However, these topics have rarely been examined in relation to each other. This study aims to partially fill this gap. Based on data from a survey of about 2,000 Russian manufacturing companies, the article examines the relationship between import dependence and cooperation between science and business, and the latter’s contribution to changes in the dynamics of import use in 2019—2021. We have found that companies interacting with domestic science are characterized by a higher dependence on imports of intermediate goods, equipment, and technologies. At the same time, cooperation between science and business does not have a significant impact on the scale of imports used by companies. In general, for leading Russian companies, interaction with domestic science is often not an alternative but a supplement to the use of foreign innovative products, technologies, and competencies.