Russian Regional Innovation Development Ranking has a new leader

On 29 June, 2016 the Higher School of Economics’ Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge at a press briefing hosted by the TASS news agency in the video conference format bringing together participants from Moscow, Kazan, and St. Petersburg, presented the fourth issue of Russian Regional Innovation Development Ranking. The new ranking is now headed by Tatarstan. For the first time since 2008 Moscow has lost its leading position.

	Full text of the report  (in Russian)

The top 10 regions also include Mordovia, Kaluga, Nizhniy Novgorod, Tomsk Regions, Chuvashia, Khabarovsk Region, and Penza Region.

The following regions have significantly improved their rankings: Mari El (+18 positions), Karelia (+15), Mordovia (+14), Rostov Region (+14), and Kabardino-Balkaria (+13).

The most notable downward dynamics demonstrated Kurgan (–36), Magadan (–34), Leningrad (–25), and Kamchatka Regions (–18).

The fourth issue of the analytical report comprises data for 2013 and 2014. The originally designed system of indicators is based on results of many years of ISSEK’s research, official statistics, bibliometric and patent data, Federal Treasury reports, and open-access data published at government agencies’ web portals. All Russian regions except Crimea and Sevastopol are covered (for the last two, 2014 data was incomplete).

The overall ranking – Russian Regional Innovation Index (RRII) – comprises several sub-indices:

• SECI (Socio-Economic Conditions for Innovation Activities Index
• STPI (S&T Potential Index)
• IAI (Innovation Activities Index)
• IPQI (Innovation Policy’s Quality Index)

To allow for a more detailed analysis of these factors, rating estimates for 13 subject areas and 37 indicators were added. E.g. the S&T Potential sub-index includes three subject areas: R&D funding, R&D personnel, and R&D productivity. The latter (to give just one example) is further broken down into four areas (number of academic papers, patent applications, advanced production technologies, and technology export revenues as share GRP). Specific sub-ratings are calculated for each group, with their dynamics since 2013 included. Thus the rating allows to assess strengths and weaknesses of each Russian region’s innovation system.
Also it provides an opportunity to analyse just how actively regional authorities are working on carrying out the Russian president’s and prime minister’s instructions to step up innovation-based development.

The study results were presented at the press briefing by Leonid Gokhberg, HSE First Vice-Rector and Director of the ISSEK (see presentation), and Evgeny Kutsenko, Head of the ISSEK’s Russian Cluster Observatory (see presentation). The ISSEK researchers noted that the level of Russian regions’ innovation development remains uneven. The RRII value of the last region in the ranking is more than 3.5 times lower than the leader’s. According to the ISSEK report, if support of regional innovation activities currently actively provided by federal authorities (through targeted  programmes, direct funding of R&D organisations, etc.) is reduced, the disparity may become even more significant.

The discussion participants included Alexey Besprozvannykh, Director of the Regional Industrial Policy Department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Rustam Khafizov, Head of Innovation Projects Division of the Ministry of Economic Development’s Social Development and Innovations Department. Artiom Zdunov, Minister of economy of the Republic of Tatarstan, contributed via video conference link from the Tatar-Inform Kazan studio. The press briefing was moderated by Andrey Zhurankov, Head of the TASS Press Centre’s analytical group.

The participants provided detailed comments on the ranking’s methodology and how it can help to make federal- and regional-level decisions, more precisely fine-tune innovation support tools, assist each region to assess its strengths and weaknesses in the field, and analyse relevant recent trends.

Photos

Video

Source: TASS news agency

See also:

Russian regions ranked by innovative development (Skolkovo website, 30.06.2016)

About how the team of Sobyanin was defeated by the team of Minnikhanov in ‘the innovation match-2015’ (Real Time, 01.07.2016)