In 2026, Russian manufacturers and customers of industrial robots will have access to new government support measures. According to a document that Kommersant has reviewed, companies will be able to apply for subsidies of up to 2.5 billion rubles for research and development (R&D), as well as for compensation of expenses on loans from the Industrial Development Fund (IDF).
Who will be able to receive funding?
- Robot manufacturers — up to 70% of costs for three years
- Electronic engineering developers — up to 90% (maximum 500 million rubles per year)
- R&D customers — up to 2 billion rubles for five years
The IDF offers loans from 20 million to 1 billion rubles at 5% per annum (the rate can be reduced to 1%). However, the key condition remains a multiple increase in sales — companies must ensure an increase in revenue of 2–5 times the amount of funding received.
Enterprises that have received funding for the production of industrial robots, as well as machine tool products, have the right to apply to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia to participate in the selection for receiving a subsidy from the budget to repay the IDF loan.
According to experts, fulfilling the conditions for sales growth may be difficult, given the slow growth rate of the industrial robotics market in Russia. It was previously reported that localization requirements have been temporarily reduced — currently, only one company meets them, despite an average localization level of 60–70%.
If a company does not meet the conditions for providing a subsidy, it can justify why it did not meet the conditions and receive a deferral or return the funds received. Robot development requires very high initial investments, which pay off only over time, and without government support, it is very difficult to attract such money; we are talking about hundreds of millions of rubles.
Manufacturers support the initiative, emphasizing that their own R&D costs reach hundreds of millions of rubles.
Also, according to Konstantin Tolstoy, measures for research and development will not be able to significantly increase the profitability of the production of Russian industrial robots.
There is more interest, but now we do not see explosive demand, as the situation with "expensive" money does not contribute to innovative projects.
According to him, a more effective solution may be to stimulate real demand in the market, which can be predicted for three to five years ahead.
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