History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences – 25 years Ipatov A.V. Shuygina N.V. On February 8th, 2013 the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences was 25 years old. During this short in astronomical terms time IAA employees designed, built and put into operation the VLBI Complex «Quasar KVO» – one of the most ambitious Russian projects in astronomy. This article is a brief overview on the creation of our Institute, trends of its scientific research, international cooperation, current shape of its three observatories, which are the parts of the «Quasar-KVO» VLBI Complex, and on their development opportunities in the near future. Keywords: very long baseline interferometry (VLBI); space geodesy; co-location; ephemerides; Astronomical yearbook. Contacts: E-mail: nvf@ipa.nw.ru Pp. 03-08.