One key obstacle to business innovation could be relatively underdeveloped knowledge- and information-intensive services. Business services are essentially concentrated in large and medium-sized urban agglomerations. The R&D “ranking” of Kazakhstan’s cities is relatively stable: the main development since 2005 has been the rise of Astana (from 9.1% of national R&D expenditures in 2005 to 19.4% in 2015). The science city of Kurshatov (11 670 inhabitants, home of the national nuclear centre and its research institutes) is by far the smallest city with significant R&D spending and personnel.