In Russia, the change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy has led to major changes in its national innovation system. It is progressively ruled according to the functioning principles in large industrial countries. First, the national innovation system is defined and the theoretical evolution of the concept is presented. The article then describes the current changes (legal incentive framework, restructuring, networking of institutions), their expected advantages (strengthening innovation and growth) and their limits (extraversion of the Russian economy). Referring to F. List’s contribution, we stress the importance of an active industrial policy for the structuring of the national innovation system. JEL codes: O3, P21, P27