Human capital as a catalyst for digitalization of regional economy

The development of regional competitiveness is a challenge of our time. The elaboration of effective tools for this process offers opportunity to consolidate the existing and acquire new unique competitive advantages at both regional and national levels. The basis of any socio-economic development is a person whose effective performance reflects the level of his human capital. It can be argued that human capital, in the modern context, is becoming the basis for development of competitive advantages at all levels of competition. In this regard, assessment of competitiveness of the regional economy, which takes into account a human capital factor, is important for the analysis and creation of sustainable regional development processes. Improved technologies have offered economists new methods and tools for economic development. Digitalization of the economy is a prime example of this. The purpose of this work is to study human capital as a catalyst for digitalization of the regional economy. The subject of this study is substantiation of an assessing mechanism for regions’ readiness to transition to the digital economy based on the factor of human capital analysis. The central subject of digitalization of the regional economy is the state. Therefore, when assessing regions’ competitiveness and their readiness for digitalization, such factors as development of human capital in public administration of these regions were taken into account. The results of the study contribute to the development of the regional economic theory, the theory of human capital, and to the development of the efficiency assessment approaches of public administration in the framework of a limited resource base and ongoing challenges facing the state. As a result, it became possible to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the key social and economic regional institutions readiness for digitalization.