Higher Education and Innovation Potential in Russian Regions: Territorial Distribution

Abstract

This paper investigates the territorial distribution of innovation potential across Russia, taking into account the role of higher education in the knowledge economy. The purpose of the research reported here was to determine the key characteristics of the territorial distribution of innovation potential across Russia and explore its relationship with the development of higher education in the country’s regions. The paper presents a hypothesis about the uneven distribution of innovation potential across Russia and its concentration in particular regions with a well-developed system of higher education. The study’s methodology is focused on identifying a region’s scientific-technological, workforce, investment, and production potential in the structure of its innovation potential. The hypothesis was tested using the RStudio computing environment via correlation-regression and cluster analyses of the regions’ innovation potential. The authors employed a set of methods related to probability-based and hierarchical approaches (k-means clustering, complete-linkage clustering, Ward’s method, and DIANA) and drew upon a body of official statistical data on socio-economic development in Russia’s 85 constituent regions, taking into account the effect of the higher education system on their innovation potential. The following result was achieved – supporting the hypothesis about the uneven territorial distribution of innovation potential across Russia and the role of institutions of higher learning in that. Based on the insights gained from the study, the authors drew the following conclusion. Innovation potential in Russia is currently characterized by a high degree of concentration in particular regions. Most Russian regions have moderate to low innovation potential. Regions with high innovation potential are positioned in a compact arrangement (which helped identify the country’s key areas in terms of innovation potential concentration). The contribution of universities in terms of turning out innovative products is relatively minor, with a significant portion of their research revenue result-ing from government funding and grant-based activity and with businesses taking a minimal part in the development of R&D proposals. This is testimo-ny to the low degree of integration of the system of higher education into the process of creation of innovative products and the lack of a developed mechanism for the interaction of universities and businesses in the country at the moment.