Atlas report
AI researchers in Russia
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology is the largest, with 482 indexed researchers, barely ahead of National Research University Higher School of Economics at 468. No single place dominates here.
The short answer
Russia is the 19th country by indexed AI researchers, 5 078 of them.
2.8% of the AI researchers indexed in Russia sit in a company rather than a university, 32% of the world share of 8.9%.
Russia counts 35 indexed AI researchers per million inhabitants, 40% of the world rate of 89.
What stands out
Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is the subject newcomers in Russia pick up fastest: 42 started on it between 2023 and 2025, and its share of new entrants is 1.9 times its share in the previous window.
The subject where Russia weighs most against the rest of the world is Neural Networks and Applications: 2.3% of its subject assignments work on it, 1.8 times the world share of 1.2%.
Russia holds 0.7% of the researchers with a known country and 1.8% of the world's population, 40% of its demographic weight.
Subjects
The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 7.9% of Russia's subject assignments fall.
Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Multimodal Machine Learning Applications, Neural Networks and Applications, Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 805 | 7.9% | 7.9% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 592 | 5.8% | 4.3% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 327 | 3.2% | 4.4% |
| Multimodal Machine Learning Applications | 291 | 2.9% | 3.9% |
| Neural Networks and Applications | 230 | 2.3% | 1.2% |
| Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis | 230 | 2.3% | 2.6% |
| Semantic Web and Ontologies | 140 | 1.4% | 1.1% |
| Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) | 131 | 1.3% | 1.5% |
Newcomers by year
Newcomers between 2023 and 2025 number 796 in Russia, against 843 between 2020 and 2022: a ratio of 0.9, where the world sits at 1.1.
In 2025, the last full year, Russia gained 1.0 times as many new researchers as in an average year of the three before; the world figure is 0.8.
| First publication | New in Russia | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 230 | 1.2% |
| 2020 | 232 | 1.1% |
| 2021 | 269 | 1.1% |
| 2022 | 342 | 1.0% |
| 2023 | 243 | 0.8% |
| 2024 | 277 | 0.9% |
| 2025 | 276 | 1.1% |
Institutions
27% of the country's researchers sit in three institutions, led by Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology is the largest, with 482 indexed researchers, barely ahead of National Research University Higher School of Economics at 468. No single place dominates here.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology | 482 | 9.5% |
| National Research University Higher School of Economics | 468 | 9.2% |
| Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology | 430 | 8.5% |
Compared with its peers
Read against Brazil and Sweden, the two nearest countries by headcount, the differences are in the rates, not the totals. The gap that stands out is the researchers per million inhabitants: 35 here, below the 239 of those two.
| Russia | Brazil | Sweden | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 5 078 | 5 124 | 4 819 |
| Per million inhabitants | 35 | 24 | 455 |
| In a company | 2.8% | 2.1% | 21% |
| Early career | 58% | 45% | 46% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.1 |
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in Russia?
- 5 078 researchers in the Founding Hires index have an institution in Russia, 0.7% of all profiles with a known country, as of October 2026.
- Where do you find AI researchers in Russia?
- Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, 482, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 468, Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, 430. Together they hold 27% of the country's indexed researchers.
- What is Russia strongest in?
- Neural Networks and Applications, at 1.8 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in Russia growing?
- Yes, slower than the world. Between 2023 and 2025, 796 people in Russia published for the first time, against 843 over the three years before, a ratio of 0.9 where the world sits at 1.1.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country, and get an alert before they come free.