Comparative analysis of the level of digital infrastructure development: Case of two Russian urban agglomerations

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to develop a method for assessing the level of digital infrastructure development for doing business in a region and a comparative analysis on the example of the two largest urban agglomerations of the Russian Federation-Moscow and St. Petersburg. The relevance of the research topic is confirmed, on the one hand, by the special role of the Moscow and St. Petersburg in the Russian economy, on the other hand, by the current processes of digitalization going on in the Russian economy. The authors propose a refined concept of "digital infrastructure of the region", and justify the choice of indicators characterizing its level. The article presents the integral indicator for assessing the level of development of the region's digital infrastructure, based on separate indicators of two types, characterizing, on the one hand, the material basis and on the another hand, the access to digital infrastructure. The study used a formula for calculation of the integral indicator. The presented formula is the convolution of the indicators of two types taking into account the relative significance of every indicator. The comparative analysis has been carried out, and recommendations have been developed for increasing the level of digital infrastructure development in the largest urban agglomerations of the Russian Federation-Moscow and St. Petersburg.