The article considers the transformation of the role of the RAS in the national innovation system of Russia. It characterises individual uses of the scientific potential of the Academy institutions in modernising the Russian economy and evaluates the parameters of the participation of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the implementation of state-of-the-art tools of innovation policy. The paper identifies the scale of development of small innovative enterprises within the Academy institutions and exposes trends in the protection of intellectual activity results of R&D institutions of the RAS.
Keywords: Russian Academy of Sciences, national innovation system, innovation potential, technology transfer, intellectual property, innovative small businesses