МОДИФИКАЦИЯ ИНДЕКСА ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОСТИ В ОЦЕНКЕ ИННОВАЦИОННОЙ АКТИВНОСТИ РЕГИОНОВ

Abstract:
Analysis and assessment of the innovative activity of regions is a relevant area of regional research, revealing structural changes in innovation policy, as well as a condition for long‑term and effective economic development. The article examines various methodological and methodical approaches to determining changes in the dynamics and structure of innovative activity in regions. The author formulates four research hypotheses concerning the justification of regions as objects of study, the selection of the period under analysis, the information base for the study, and the methodology for forming an integral indicator. Using integrated indicators for assessing innovative activity, which include a set of partial indicators and the index of regional centrality in the sphere of innovative activity, conclusions were drawn about the need to modify the existing indices of regional centrality by representing the system of Russian regions as a structural network of actors operating in the sphere of innovative activity. Two integrated indicators were proposed — the degree centrality index and the intermediate centrality index — and their economic content was disclosed. The methodology for assessing integrated indicators was tested using 83 Russian regions. The regions were grouped based on the dynamics of changes in the intermediate centrality index. Seven groups of regions were identified in which the index showed growth, decline, or stabilization; regions were also identified in which the index dynamics demonstrated instability. The factors that had the greatest impact on changes in the integral index in the regions were determined. The assessment of the integral index of intermediate centrality made it possible to formulate recommendations for adjusting the state regional innovation policy.