Regional experts cited crumbling infrastructure and inadequate state funding as the main drawbacks to innovative economic development in the country, according to a poll released Thursday by the State Analytical Center.

The report, which polled more than 400 government experts from 77 regions, found that most were overwhelmingly pessimistic about the state's program to establish an innovation-based economy.

The findings come as the government has picked 5,000 small and medium-sized businesses as candidates to receive government support to fund innovation.

Regional experts said innovative activities around the country were cash-strapped and mainly relied on private funds provided by organizations, rather than funds from federal or regional government budgets.

According to respondents, about 50 percent of projects relied on private funds, 9 percent on bank loans and 7 percent on funds from organizations that placed special orders.

So far, only 6 percent of innovative activities are funded directly from regional budgets and just 5 percent from the federal budget, the report said.

Respondents also said neither private investors nor state corporations had shown any enthusiasm to fund innovative development projects in the regions because of the long periods required to see a return on investment.

Only one-third of respondents, mainly from the Urals Federal District, said their regions had potential to benefit from the government's drive toward an innovative economy.

Officials in the Southern and Far East federal districts said a myriad of problems, including inadequate budget allocation and poor infrastructure inherited from Soviet times made the program less likely to succeed.

When asked to evaluate specific results, such as the development of new products and increases in labor productivity, participants said only "very modest results" had been achieved.

The most pessimistic assessment was reserved for the quality of domestically produced goods using new technologies, with more than 50 percent of respondents rating them below average.

Respondents also said domestically produced innovative products could not compete with imports and that so far there was no discernible increase in exports.

Two-thirds of respondents said transportation and small businesses were the worst areas for innovation.

Sergei Polyakov, general director of the state-funded Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises, said financial allocation by the state "never met expectations" for the development and support of small innovative enterprises.

The government has been very supportive, however, and is anxious to make the program a success in the regions, he said.

"Most of the 5,000 projects for development and production of new high-tech products, as well as development of infrastructure, are based in the regions," Polyakov said.

Andrei Zveryev, head of the Analytical Center, said the report had been commissioned "to feel the pulse of the projects for the first time."