ICER was established within RANEPA in March 2016 with the aim of bringing greater understanding of the changes now taking place in the Eurasian region. The sheer size of the Eurasian land mass and its diversity in terms of history, cultures, languages and levels of economic development means that it is not an easy topic to research and study. But, ongoing attempts must be made because the balance of future economic and political weight and influence of its various constituent countries will not only have an profound effect on Eurasia itself, but will have implications for much of the world which is outside of Eurasia. ICER will bring together RANEPA researchers and people of practical experience to analyze, discuss, report and commentate on these issues in a very inter-disciplinary way.
ICER will not undertake, support or publish research for its own sake. The mission of ICER is to conduct research and analysis which aims for the future betterment of the Eurasian region. The term "future betterment" not only means making the lives of people better, but also means avoiding events and decisions by key players which makes people's lives worse.
ICER will focus on issues that can best be described as "Eurasian" (or largely so) in importance rather mainly important for some particular countries (or sub-regions) of Eurasia. Preference will be given to issues whose complexity demands a multi-disciplinary approach. Nearly all the research will be conducted by people living in Eurasian countries, although the major market (or audience) for the research may well be outside of Eurasia.
The problems of development of business, state structures and societies in China, India, Central and Southeast Asia, including the evolvement of competitiveness, innovations, difficulties in overcoming systemic problems, social challenges, corruption need to be studied within the paradigms of economics, finance and political science. However, it is important to note that in modern Russia the range of studies and research structures engaged in a comprehensive study of these regions is rather limited.
The lack of understanding of the real process and the results of entrepreneurship development of business organizations and social processes in China, India, Southeast Asia reduces depth and efficiency of national higher education in the fields of international relations, population economics, regional and country studies.
Forced reliance on the research results of western scholars lowers the potential of direct scientific and academic cooperation of Russian researchers being successful in rendering Western approaches to regional studies, business organizations and social processes in the named countries. The change of the vector in foreign policy priorities of Russia aggravates the problem.
ICER is intended to consolidate the research capacity and intermittent research efforts of RANEPA's professors, researchers and invited experts and make them systematic, planned and channeled into the mainstream of research and practice as well as training of specialists in Oriental studies, sociology, management and political science.
ICER with Jeff Schubert, a very experienced internationally analyst as its head contributes to the development of Eurasian studies in RANEPA, evolvement of scientific schools, consolidation of research staff and it facilitates closer integration of professors, postgraduates and students in an integrated research teams and will support the introduction of the research results into the educational process.
In its studies ICER relies on its network of international contacts. It also collaborates with other centers of Eurasian and Asian studies all over the world, as well as with universities being an active participant in the global research network.