Abstract. The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the fact that the level of innovation activity in the Russian economy is still low, dependence on technology imports is high in a number of the most important sectors of the manufacturing and mining industries, and the lag of the main indicators of scientific and technological development from world leaders is growing. The implementation of the tasks of accelerating economic development, Russia’s entry into the number of the largest economies in the world based on the technological breakthrough formulated in the presidential decrees in May 2018, takes into account real trends in the technological development of the world's largest economies. The purpose of the article is to show that the dynamic technological development is provided by the entrepreneurial sector — small, medium and large companies. In developed countries they use their own research base, assume the risks of investing in new projects and rely on a variety of government support to compensate for the risks. It is empirically proven that a high level of research and development costs distinguishes developed countries from less developed countries. The article analyzes the scope and industry structure of research and development carried out by large global companies at the forefront of technological progress. Some features of the Russian scientific and technological policy in 2018—2019 are considered, the declared purpose of which is a scientific and technological breakthrough. It is shown that still stimulating the business sector to develop high-tech activities is not in the focus of national projects.