The infrastructural component of the scientific and technological development of Russia requires a significant update of the methodology for evaluating the relevant investment projects. This article is devoted to the problem of simultaneous assessment of the financial and economic efficiency of research infrastructure projects and the justification of the need for government intervention for the successful implementation of such projects. The proposed methods and models are based on the transition from financial to economic indicators of the project based on the adjustment of cash flows with the allocation of social effects that are significant for such projects (indirect, tax, effects of knowledge overflow, social, environmental, price), as well as the allocation of synergistic ones in their composition effects. The proposed methods and models were tested for the innovative project of the Collective Use Center “Pilot Production of Catalysts”, which was proposed by the Catalysis Institute in 2018 as part of the regional program “Novosibirsk Akademgorodok 2.0”. The results obtained show that the stimulation of investment in research infrastructure is justified by a significant excess of the economic efficiency of the project compared to financial efficiency and substantially depends on the choice of an adequate mechanism of state participation in the project.