THE IMPACT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INNOVATIVE ACTIVITIES AND DIGITALIZATION ON THE LEVEL OF ECONOMY OF RUSSIAN REGIONS
Authors:   Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, Varenik M. S. 
Published: December 2024

The work is devoted to identifying patterns of coupling scientific and innovative activities and the intensity of digital development in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation with the gross regional product (GRP) per capita in the regions of Russia. The relevance of the study is determined by the importance of ensuring technological leadership and sovereignty in the framework of achieving the National Development Goals of Russia.

The purpose of the work is to identify the level of mutual influence of scientific and innovative activities and digital development with the level of GRP per capita in the regions of Russia.

The work used a methodological approach based on the involvement of a wide range of statistical and other indicators reflecting scientific and innovative activities and the development of information and communication technologies. The study used Rosstat data for 2021 and 2022 (indicators of GRP per capita, science, innovation and development) of information technology, as well as the results obtained by the author through the search engine of the Scopus database (publication activity of scientists in the regions of Russia, by main branches of science). The analysis was conducted on a sample of 77 regions (excluding a number of northern and far eastern regions of the Russian Federation with a very high level of GRP per capita, associated with the predominance of the extractive industry in the structure of the economy). The construction of models of the relationship was carried out on the basis of correlation and regression analysis and obtaining formulas for multiple linear regression. The main results of the study: it was found that scientific, innovative and digitalization activities in the regions significantly correlate with GRP per capita; while the highest level of correlation was shown by such factors as the number of publications in Scopus in the field of economics, econometrics and finance, relative costs of applied research, the volume of innovative goods and services, as well as the volume of information transmitted via the Internet. The constructed econometric model of multiple regression, demonstrating the interdependence of key indicators of science, innovation and digital development with the level of the economy, showed high explanatory power (R2 = 0.72), which indicates a significant positive impact of the studied indicators on economic development and provides a certain indicative «recipe» for the formation and implementation of regional scientific and innovation policy and regional policy in the field of digital development. Cases of significant deviation of the simulated indicators of GRP per capita from their real values are analyzed separately.

The scientific novelty of the study is associated with the breadth of the list of indicators used for the analysis, the complexity of the approach to assessing the impact of innovation on the regional economy, including a joint consideration of the scientific and innovative and information and communication components as a single innovative factor for economic growth.

The results obtained are of practical significance for strategizing the development of the regional economy. The ratio of the regression model indicators indicates the most promising strategic guidelines in planning the development of scientific and innovative systems in the regions, taking into account their digitalization processes.