Soviet Applied Information Sciences in a Time of Change. (Foreign Applied Sciences Assessment Center: Integration Report 3)

摘要

The report characterizes the current state of the information sciences in the Soviet Union and the effects of information science capabilities upon other areas of Soviet science and technology. The report also provides estimates of the likely effect of the political and social reforms underway in the Soviet Union on future Soviet progress in the information sciences and, at a more general level, in science and technology. As in other areas of science, Soviet researchers are better in the theoretical aspects of the information sciences than in the applications. Moreover, the Soviets are unable to match either the quality or quantities of the tools of the applied information sciences that are produced in the West. Soviet scientists remain unable to produce computers of any size in the desired quantities. The lack of capable computers is a serious impediment to computer-aided design of very large-scale integrated circuits, while the Soviet microelectronics industry lacks both automated test equipment and automated controls for processing equipment.