Regional Science and Technology Policy during the Period of “Sovnarkhoz Reform” (on the Example of Western Siberia)

Abstract

The article, based on archival sources, analyzes the experience of organizing scientific and technical activities in the structure of the Councils of National Economy (SNKh) that existed from 1957 to 1965. It shows the forms of work of the scientific and technical activity management bodies, such as the Central Bureau of Technical Information (CBTI) and the Production and Technical Department (PTO), later transformed into the Technical Department of the sovnarkhoz. It is shown that the sharp growth of interest in the issues of regional development, one of the manifestations of which was the effect of “regionalization of science”, became an important prerequisite for the decision to establish a powerful scientific center in the east of the country – the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It is concluded that in modern conditions the experience of regionalization of scientific and technical activity, implemented in the structure of sovnarkhozes, can be useful.