A scientific production association (, abbr. NPO) is a type of integrated research-and-production organization that originated in the Soviet Union and continues to exist in Russia and other successor states. Such associations combine scientific research, engineering design, technology development, and industrial production within a single structure, typically including research institutes, design bureaus, and manufacturing plants.
Closely related organizational forms include the scientific and production enterprise (, NPP) and the scientific and implementation enterprise (, NVP).
Prominent examples of NPOs include NPO Mashinostroyeniya and NPO Almaz.
History
The NPO structure first appeared in the late 1960s, after a Soviet decree was approved on 24 September 1968 to reform research and development structures; by 1980 there were 250 NPOs in the Soviet Union.[1]
NPOs were established to consolidate research and production activities into a single entity.[2] They were meant to bridge the technological gap between design bureaus and production plants, as new designs were often developed without considering the technical capabilities of the production facilities, leading to long delays between the start of development and serial production.[3]
They are usually headed by a research or design organization.[4] Though they exist in many sectors, they are most common in electrical engineering, electronics, aviation, instrument-making and chemical industries.[1]
List of NPOs
- NPO Altair
- NPO Almaz
- NPO Antey
- NPO Biosintez[5]
- NPO Electropribor (Kharkiv, Ukraine)
- NPO Energomash (Moscow)
- NPO ELSIB (Novosibirsk)
- NPO Novator (Yekaterinburg)
- NPO Almaz
List of NVPs
- NVP Protek
See also
References
- Gregory Guroff, Fred V. Carstensen. Entrepreneurship in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union Princeton University Press, 2014^
- Rockets and People, Volume III, Hot Days of the Cold War Government Printing Office^
- Simon Kassel. Soviet Advanced Technologies in the Era of Restructuring