ИСТИНА

In the current climate of sanctions between Russia and Western countries and limitations on international technology transfer, there is a growing need to analyse the factors influencing regional innovation. Previous empirical studies have found that the main factor of the growth of regional innovation is increased spending on research and development (R&D), thus confirming the main theoretical assumptions of the knowledge production function model. In contrast, our econometric analyses show that the quality of human capital, as measured by the number of economically active urban citizens with a higher education (the so-called ‘creative class’) has the greatest influence on the number of potentially commercializable patents in regions of Russia. We propose a new indicator to measure potentially commercializable patents by regions. Other significant factors were acquisition of equipment, which indicates a high rate of wear and tear of Russian machinery, and spending on basic research which lies at the core of developing new technologies. Russia’s innovation system has a ‘centre-periphery’ structure that favours the migration of highly qualified researchers to leading regions; proximity to such regions negatively influences innovation levels of the ‘donor regions’. However, at the same time, we see significantly fewer limitations on knowledge spillovers in the form of patents; and proximity to the centre (the capital city, Moscow) is a positive factor when it comes to knowledge spillovers.