Analysis of the legal and infrastructural basis for the scientific and technological sphere in the regions of Russia: potential and prospects for the formation of connectedness of the country's territories

Introduction. The formation of regional differentiation weakens the unity and sustainability of the country's development as a whole, which hinders its transition to an innovative economic model and joining the ranks of the of the world's leading technological powers. The objective of this paper is to give a comprehensive analysis of the state of the regional scientific and technological sphere of eleven constituent entities of the Russian Federation and to assess the existing groundwork and potential for the formation of a single scientific and technological space. Materials and Methods. The study has been implemented in two stages and has employed the methods of induction and deduction, as well as those of systemic and comparative analysis. The study has examined data from the Consultant Plus system and the annual monitoring survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia through the internet portal 'Scientific and Technological Infrastructure of the Russian Federation -Centers for Collective use of Scientific Equipment and Unique Scientific Installations'. Results. The equipment of the legislative framework with legal and regulatory instruments in the field of science regulation has been examined; the scientific and infrastructural equipment of 11 regions has been analyzed. The existence of a strong differentiation between the studied territories has been revealed and proved. The regions that are the leaders and laggards in terms of the degree of development of the legal and infrastructural components of the scientific and technological industry have been identified. Discussion and Conclusion. This article presents the results of the first stage of a comprehensive study which is supposed to make an attempt to build and describe a model of scientific and technological cooperation of the territories of Russia based on the case study of 11 regions. The results of the work can be useful to researchers and specialists in the field of regional development and management in the scientific and technological sphere, as well as in the field of development of scientific and technological cooperation and connectedness of territories.