Biotechnologies are a priority area of development due to the scope of global challenges and social problems they help to resolve. There is demand for updated information about the the current state of research and challenges faced. This paper discusses the potential of patent analysis and surveys the Russian biotechnological market with both quantitative and qualitative methods. It reviews key statistical and analytical findings of empirical research. The main finding is that the Russian biotechnological market has a relatively high level of dependence on foreign technologies: among biotechnological patents published in Russia in 2012, a third was granted to non-residents. In Russia, foreigners are active in patenting universal methods and techniques useful for biotechnological advancement. This may constrain future Russian organizations’ access to results and methods and therefore block some directions of biotechnological research within the country. Among other challenges, are the following: a low involvement of the Russian commercial sector in developing biotechnologies, a lack of cooperation between the segments of the market, and a disadvantaged position of some subfields, such as eco- and aqua biotechnologies and bioenergy. By using patent data, we identify active actors contributing most significantly to progress of biotechnologies in Russia, and we focus on dynamically developing subfields, such as biomedicine and pharmaceuticals.
