Methodology for comprehensive assessment of regional innovative development

Innovative development of regions is a key factor that determines the level of competitiveness of the economies of all countries in the world. This article uses statistical tools to assess the level of innovative development of the regions of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the work is to assess the innovative development of the subjects of Russia for the period 2010–2020. Objectives of the study: (1) to study the main parameters of innovative development of the subjects of the Russian Federation; (2) to conduct a typology of Russian regions by the level of innovative development on the basis of cluster analysis. The selected time interval (2010–2020) was a period of increasing turbulent flows of development of socio-economic processes at the global, national and regional levels. Cluster analysis was used to identify spatial and functional features of innovative development of Russian regions. The obtained analytical calculations confirm a high degree of differentiation between the Russian regions by all key indicators of innovative development. The results of grouping regions on the basis of cluster analysis showed that there are four clusters based on the sum of normalized indicators, reflecting different levels of innovative development in Russian regions. The analysis revealed that most of the regions belong to the groups with moderate and low levels of innovative development. The regions of the Central and Volga Federal Districts have the highest level of innovative development, while the regions located in the north of the European part of Russia, the North Caucasus, the south of eastern Siberia and the Far East, as well as “new” regions, have a low level. The results of the study can be implemented by regional authorities for systematic monitoring of the level of innovative development of regions, making managerial decisions and developing mechanisms to ensure innovation activity in the regions.

The article considers the issue of formation and implementation in the subjects of the Russian Federation of state-legal policy in the fi eld of scientifi c and technological (innovative) development. There is a need for systematic and consistent activity of the authorities in the fi eld of optimization of the innovation climate in the regions. The methodological foundations of the study of the problem of innovation economy management at the regional level are revealed. The role of the project method of implementing management tasks in the fi eld of scientifi c and technological development of the subjects of the Russian Federation is evaluated. The problems of practical implementation of the goals and objectives laid down in the projects and programs of innovative development of Russia are identifi ed. The regulatory framework for the implementation of measures for the innovative development of Russian regions is characterized. Some recommendations aimed at improving and increasing the effectiveness of state legal policy in the fi eld of scientifi c, technological and innovative development in the Russian regions are proposed.

The study of the effectiveness of spatial innovation development is a highly topical issue today due to the increased impact of innovation on economic growth. In order to assess the structural dynamics of regional innovative development, an analysis of the innovation indicators for Russian regions in 2010–2018 was carried out. Cluster analysis and the correlation-regression method were used to assess the structural changes in the innovative development of Russian regions. The analysis demonstrates an increased number of entities in the innovative leading region cluster by 2018, which can be considered as a positive result of innovation policy and the growth in indicators of regional innovative development. The research results can be used to develop regional innovative strategies and decision making for the further development of innovative activities.

The term “pattern” refers to a combination of values of some features such that objects with these feature values significantly differ from other objects. This concept is a useful tool for the analysis of behavior of objects in both statics and dynamics. If the panel data describing the functioning of objects in time is available, we can analyze pattern changing behavior of the objects and identify either well adapted to the environment objects or objects with unusual and alarming behavior.In this paper we apply static and dynamic pattern analysis to the analysis of innovative development of the Russian regions in the long run and obtain a classification of regions by the similarity of the internal structure of these indicators and groups of regions carrying out similar strategies.

This article presents the methodology and tools for the econometric analysis and assessment of the innovation development of the Russian Arctic regions, under the Triple Helix concept. The econometric calculations based on this methodology allow the express assessment of innovation development of a region and the contribution of the science and education complex (SEdC), industries, and the government, to the integral index of innovation development of this region, using minimum key statistical indicators in the field of science and innovation. The calculation results obtained using the author’s methodology show the adequacy of the express rating, with respect to the rating data obtained using other methodologies. The main advantage of the proposed methodology is the elimination of the human factors arising from the weighing coefficients and the results of the expert assessments used in the other rating methodologies. The calculation results obtained using this methodology might be useful to the executive bodies of state authorities, business entities, and scientific and educational institutions, for an express assessment and for making various organizational and managerial decisions on innovation development in a region.

Artisanal food processing is socio-cultural practice. Artisanal products embody the processor's values and beliefs and are an expression of place. By studying the Tasmanian artisanal food industry, this article explores how culture can be employed in innovative regional development and how the growth of small to medium enterprises is consistent with sustainability. Recommendations for developing a policy regime conducive to the flourishing of artisanal industries are provided. This article arose from research which investigated the difficulties of identity preservation as a result of enterprise expansion as well as the authenticity of claims in the artisanal food industry. The research methodology was primarily a multiple case study, preceded by a scoping study. Three small-scale agricultural cottage enterprises and three small-scale agricultural cottage enterprises that had expanded were purposively selected from the cheese, berry and wine sectors. During 2004, extensive in-depth interviews were conducted with the principals of each case study enterprise. The research established the artisanal food industry's alignment with the endogenous regional development model. The significance of specific spatial and place characteristics and the pivotal role of values was established. The findings demonstrate the rationality of employing culture in regional development.

Features of the development of venture capital markets and factors that affect the venture capital industry in Russia have been analyzed. The main causes of the venture capital market crisis have been examined. Its expected development under the conditions of sanctions and economic decline has been estimated. The role of regional venture funds and imbalances in the innovative development of Russian regions has been considered.

Methodological Approach to Assessing the Synchronization and Sustainability of Innovative Development of Russian Regions Based on the Cluster Concept

The strategy of innovative development of Russian regions: problems of development and implementation

This article analyzes the legislative support of innovation processes in various regions of Russia. Four regions of our country, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Magadan regions were selected as a comparison. Tomsk, Irkutsk and Novosibirsk regions are located in Siberia, Magadan region is located in the Far East, but, in general, these regions have a similar economy, which is based on the extraction and export of the country's resource and raw material resources. The author has established a different interpretation of the concept of "innovative activity" at the legislative level. At the level of federal laws and regulations, there is no uniform terminology and legal tools. This leads to inconsistency of regulatory legal acts and ambiguity in the interpretation of certain provisions of the law in law enforcement practice.The adoption of regional laws is concentrated on a separate subject of the Russian Federation. It is local in nature and does not provide a single legal space for the innovation market.

Aim. The work aimed to analyze of the impact of renewable energy sector development on the condition of water resources in the region. Objectives. The work seeks to characterize the renewable energy development in Russian regions; analyze the main indicators of renewable energy generation development in southern Russian regions; reveal the relationship between the volume of electricity generation by renewable energy facilities and indicators of the condition of water resources using the example of southern Russian regions. Methods. A correlation analysis of time series was performed using data on the Southern and North Caucasian Federal Districts for 2016–2023, for the purpose of testing the hypothesis suggested about the impact of renewable energy on the condition of water resources in the region. Results . Based on the analysis results, significant and moderate correlations were revealed between the volumes of all types of energy production and the condition of water resources in most regions. The relationship between the indicators is insignificant only in regions with an insignificant share of renewable sources in the energy balance. In regions where solar and wind energy are developing, the consumption of fresh water, fish catch, and extraction of aquatic bioresources decrease. However, the dependence of small hydropower generation and indicators of the condition of water resources in different regions demonstrates both an inverse and a direct relationship which is most pronounced in regions with a high level of fish farming development. Conclusions. Despite some inconsistency in the analysis results obtained, it can be concluded that they confirm the existence of a relationship between the development of renewable energy and the condition of water resources. In order to ensure the sustainable development of water and energy systems, when justifying the choice of a project for the deployment of renewable energy facilities, it is important to assess comprehensively its potential impact on local ecosystems.

Unbalanced and insufficient development is a prominent problem in China’s period of economic transformation, and an accurate grasp of the current situation and evolutionary trend of innovation and economic development is of great significance in finding a solution and promoting regional coordinated development. This paper introduces the framework of functional data analysis to the study of both innovation and economic development in China, examining its spatial dynamic distribution and convergence characteristic in greater depth. Empirical results revealed the following. (1) Significant regional differences exist in the absolute level of China’s innovation development, with a balanced improvement in the development speed and growth potential. Significant differences exist in the absolute level and speed of economic development, but not in the potential energy of development as reflected by acceleration. (2) The σ(t) function of nationwide and regional innovation development shows a downward trend. There is σ(t) convergence in economic development nationwide and in the northeastern, eastern, and western regions, but the regional disparities in economic development within the six central provinces have not yet been effectively mitigated. (3) Nationwide and regional innovation development are in a state of β(t) convergence. There is significant β(t) convergence in the nationwide economic development, with a transition point from divergence to convergence in the northeastern, eastern, and western regions. However, the β(t) function of economic development in the central region shows a region-wide divergence. The findings of this paper have important policy implications for recognizing the balance and disparities in innovation and economic development among regions in China and promoting coordinated regional development.

The article shows the possibilities of Data Set “Interactive Statistics and Intelligent Analytics of the Balanced State of the Regional Economy of Russia in Terms of Big Data and Blockchain – 2020”. For creation of the data set, we formed time rows of the values of the selected indicators, which characterize the balance of Russia's regional economy. The indicators are systematized and classified into two categories. The first category includes the indicators of the level of socio-economic development: GDP per capita and “underdevelopment whirlpools”, balanced financial result of companies’ activities, population's employment level, and balance of the regional budget, calculated by finding the difference between revenues and expenditures. The second category includes the indicators of potential of socio-economic development: investments into fixed capital per capita, share of innovations-active organizations, share of innovative products, and digitization level. The data are collected in a table, based on which – with the help of programming and web-design – a data set is created – an interactive platform for working with data. The data set is available in Russian and English at the official web-site of the Institute of Scientific Communications [12]. The data set unifies and transfers into the digital form the data on the level and potential of Russia's regions’ potential of socio-economic development. The data set allows for flexible setting of data for any research. The data set allows – based on the statistics of a region's socio-economic development – determining its position in the Russian national ranking, category by the “TRMS” matrix, calculating the integral index for each region, and comparing its values. Using the proprietary methodology of calculation of “underdevelopment whirlpools” of Prof. Popkova, the data set reflects the balance of Russia's regional economy in 2005–2024. The data set allows for automatic visualization of data by creating a blockchain polygon of region's socio-economic development, which includes the chronogram of the region's development and the process of region's pulling into an “underdevelopment whirlpool”. The data set's data are presented in the form of an interactive map of Russia's regional economy. Map's color shows categories that are assigned to regions and the borders of regions, as well as information on each region's position in the 2020 rating. The data set allows for large-scale studies of Russia's regional economy with application of technologies of Big Data processing, machine learning, and intellectual analytics.

The paper aims to examine the perspective on the development of regional tourism ecosystems as one of the pillars of sustainable development in Russian regions. In order to meet the research objective, we combined a variety of methods: the Delphi method to analyse expert views and carry out the process of weighting indicators, mathematical and statistical processing of the evaluation results to obtain a comprehensive estimate of tourism development in Russian regions. We moved through four stages, namely: studying the local ecosystems and natural resources; examination of historical and cultural resources; studying the socioeconomic resources in the regions; evaluating the skills and competencies of regional tourist office staff. Using complex sustainability indicators, we attempted to ascertain, on the one hand, how the current state of the tourism industry in Russian regions affects the overall sustainability of regional development. As a result, we presented rankings of the Russian regions depending on their complex sustainability indicators. On the other hand, we attempted to confirm that the availability, implementation, and establishment of novel approaches determine the future possibilities for the growth and strengthening of regional tourism sustainability. We found that there is a need for pervasive integration of innovations into conventional management approaches, including digital instruments supporting successful regional tourism ecosystem development. Finally, we proposed a model of such an ecosystem as a component of an innovative hypercluster.

The article presents a study of the peculiarities of legal regulation of the development of the regional creative industry cluster in the Saratov and Ulyanovsk regions through the analysis of materials of federal laws, strategic documents for the development of regions, regulatory and legal acts aimed at supporting socio-economic development, regulation of investment and innovation, entrepreneurship in the cultural sectors industries based on data obtained by content analysis. The concept of “creative industries” has not been fixed in the Russian legal field, although it is embedded in the rhetoric of the executive branch of individual regions in software solutions for the development of their innovative potential, urban comfortable environment, small and medium-sized businesses. The study is based on an analysis of categories such as creative industries, creative clusters, and spatial development. The purpose of the study is formulated at the intersection of the problem field, including the representation of the concepts in question in official documents, programs, regulatory acts as management mechanisms and systemic support for the sphere of culture and art, creative entrepreneurship. To achieve the goal, content analysis was used. In the framework of this method, legal and strategic documents of the federal, regional and municipal levels in the field of cultural policy, culture and art, socio-economic development, outlined by the time interval from 1991 to 2019, were selected. The units of content analysis are culture, creativity, creativity, entrepreneurship, social and economic security, innovative development, investment activity, spatial and regional development. The selected categories were analyzed taking into account the specifics of territorial management and regulation of the sphere of culture and art. During the analysis of official documents, thematic areas were identified that determine the semantic field of creative industries, including the legal field of culture, spatial and innovative development of regions as a potential for the development of clusters of creative industries, regional features of including creative industries in the agenda of socio-economic development of Russian entities. Based on the results of the study, conclusions are drawn that the institutionalization of creative practices related to economic activity is gradually acquiring formal relations, making the segment of creative and creative industries visible to regional entrepreneurs and governments. At the same time, the concept of creative industries at the moment has not received due attention from the legislative and executive authorities. Outside of discussions are questions of the development of creative clusters and the conditions for their functioning within the framework of cluster policy. This, in turn, makes sustainable discussions about the residual principle of financing the sphere of culture and art, maintaining the discourse on culture and art in the aspect of preserving traditions, values, social norms and expectations of the state and population.