Developing the concept of a regional innovation system and assessing the level of its development

Abstract

Introduction. In the context of the reformatting of systemic principles for economic development under the influence of scientific and technological progress based on the digital transition and current economic realities, the regional economy serves as the primary unit. Collective success in adapting Russia's regional economies to the current long-term economic environment will signify the successful reformatting of the entire national economy. The choice of the regional economy as the primary unit of study for the digital transformation of the technological foundation is due to the fact that this level meets all the criteria of an economic system capable of a closed innovation and investment cycle. A national economy, especially one as large as Russia, has a complex structure, and standardized recommendations cannot be applied to it. On the contrary, a region, at the level of administrative-territorial division, is distinguished as homogeneous, including economically. By definition, a region possesses homogeneity and systemically similar demands from stakeholders in economic relations. Russia is characterized by the problem of uneven development and systemic backwardness of its regions, which hinders the realization of their innovative potential. The situation has worsened with the emergence of artificial intelligence as the basis for the formation of a new platform-based economy. While regional economies developed on the previously established infrastructural basis, often created during the Soviet era, until the early 2000s, a large-scale restructuring is now required. A different approach to the current situation carries the risk of degrading the innovation process in the regions, with its subsequent transition to the digital economies of the country's megacities. Materials and Methods. In preparing this article, I analyzed data presented in official statistics and the works of Russian scholars published in open sources. Considerable attention is given to the factors driving the dynamics of innovation and the evolution of the innovation economy itself, as applied to its regional aspects. After collecting and processing the information, when formulating conclusions, particular attention is paid to the algorithmic application of the author's recommendations to all regions and the categorization of non-universal recommendations by type of region with similar types of innovation systems. To collect and analyze the diverse experience of domestic and foreign innovation policies at the regional level, I used a synthesis method. At the same time, the author avoids the practice of universal generalizations and tailors them to the specific needs of innovation and investment systems. Results and key findings. As a result of the conducted research, a concept for a regional innovation system is proposed. This concept has two levels and is applicable both to specific regions and to the level of economic interaction between individual regions and the federal center. The following criteria are adopted in the proposed study to ensure the balancing of regional investment and innovation systems: ensuring the fundamental feasibility of restructuring regional innovation systems based on the technological foundation; balancing the innovation and investment components within the regional socio-economic system through the population's propensity for entrepre-neurial initiatives; ensuring the integration of regions into the trajectories of achieving the goals of innovative development of the economy at the federal level in such a way as to maximize the gains of participants at all levels while maintain-ing material interest for each participant (or category of participants with similar interests) involved in the proposed interaction algorithm. Based on the development of a balanced development roadmap, an algorithmic sequence of economic and organizational innovations is proposed to harmonize the proposed initiatives at the regional level. Discussion. Further consideration of the proposed framework initiatives for specific application to address specific challenges, all other things being equal, deserves special attention. Thus, the possibility of using proprietary initiatives after stabilizing the digital framework of regional innovation and investment systems and the spread of innovation processes beyond the regional economy is of interest for a more in-depth study.