Knowledge-Intensive Economy of the North-Western Regions of Russia

At the initial stage of innovation management at the regional level, it is necessary to identify the general level of innovation in the economy, which can be done by looking at such indicator as knowledge intensity. The purpose of the study is to evaluate knowledge intensity of the north-western Russian regions. We focused primarily on the regions whose economies are dominated by extractive industries and also considered the question as to how their innovation potential can be enhanced in the future. From the methodological perspective, we place the main emphasis on the costs, more specifically, we calculate the ratio of R&D costs to gross regional product. For our calculations, we used state statistics. As a result, we found that the economies of the north-western Russian regions are generally characterized by low knowledge intensity. The situation can be improved by encouraging businesses and universities to collaborate to foster innovation and through targeted state programs aimed at stimulating the process of innovation. Our findings can be of interest to regional policy-makers. Further research can take the proposed methodology further and include not only cost-related but also performance-related indicators into the evaluation of knowledge intensity.