Elaborating a methodology for assessing the impact of innovation entrepreneurship on the development of the region’s economy

Economic scientists have always paid considerable attention to the problem of identifying factors and finding sources of economic development. A striking example is the protectionist economic policy developed within the framework of mercantilism, the main provisions of which proclaimed the establishment of high import duties, support for national producers, etc. (De Santis, W. Stafford, T. Mann, A. de Montchrestien) (Gadzhiev, 2017; Cwik, 2011).

A. Smith believed that the foundation of economic development within a particular socioeconomic system consists in its absolute advantages, that is, factors that ensure the possibility of producing more goods using a constant amount of resources. For example, favorable agro-climatic conditions can be considered as absolute advantages for most agricultural areas. Developing the theory of A. Smith, D. Ricardo introduces the term “comparative advantages”. In his opinion, even if the region does not have absolute advantages, this does not mean that the production of any good is not profitable for it. According to D. Ricardo’s theory, the time spent on producing a unit of goods is the main condition for ensuring competitiveness in the production process (Fenin, 2017; Shumacher, 2012a, Shumacher, 2012b).

Representatives of institutionalism (W. Hamilton, T. Veblen, J. Galbraith, J. Commons, etc.) assigned a special role in economic development to social institutions. According to J. Keynes, state regulation of the economy (in particular, its influence on aggregate demand) is the basis of its stability and subsequent development, as well as the main tool for overcoming crisis situations. J. Schumpeter, the founder of the Theory of Innovation (The Theory of Economic Development, 1911), believed that innovation is recognized as the dominant factor ensuring the development of an economic system (Kurz, 2007; Bessy, Favereau, 2010; Kovaleva, 2015; Salamova, 2020; Hospers, 2005; Dequech, 2012; Caballero, Soto-Onate, 2015).

We can find a lot of similar examples in the history of economic teachings. However, we should note that, so far, scientists have not come to a single conclusion about which factors have the greatest impact on economic development.

With the advent of regionalism and regional economics (the first half of the 20th century), the research into the factors that influence economic development in individual territorial units became most widespread. This was due to the fact that in the conditions of an industrial and postindustrial society, the region became a complex multicomponent system whose structure and specifics were in no way inferior to the state as a whole. In many cases, the development of a State is determined by the development of its individual regions.

It is important to note that in the context of this study we will consider the term “region” from the standpoint of an administrative-territorial approach (G.V. Gutman, V.I. Leskin, A.V. Shvetsov, K. Deutsch, etc.). Thus, the region will be identified with the notion of constituent entity of the federation (or a group of entities, for example, an economic district or a federal district) (Leksin, Shvetsov, 1997; Gutman, 2002). The choice is due to the fact that the data for the regression analysis carried out in the framework of the work are taken for each RF region where the region is an administrative-territorial unit (that is, a constituent entity of the federation).

Relevance of the research. In the context of global resource constraints accompanied by pessimistic forecasts about considerable depletion of natural resources and food reserves, a tense military-political situation, and a number of other circumstances, one of the ways to solve the problem for our country is to develop an innovation-oriented paradigm of socio-economic development. Gradually, Russia should transform from an exporter of raw materials into a technologically advanced power producing a high share of added value (Polyanskaya, Naidenova, 2015).

The modern reproduction system needs to develop and implement innovations at almost all stages – from production to consumption. Old technologies that have exhausted their resource cannot help Russian regions (and Russia as a whole) to cope with competition and achieve their goals. This requires practical implementation of innovation in individual economic processes in the economy of each of RF constituent entities. Innovations act as a key factor in sustainable economic growth, contribute to the creation of a reliable material and non-material basis for the life of the present and future generations.

With the transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (sixth technological paradigm) The Russian Federation, like many other countries, has chosen an innovation “path” of development. In this regard, the formation of innovation entrepreneurship, innovation enterprises, etc. has become widespread. This is due to the fact that this type of entrepreneurship plays a key role in the innovation process. The function of implementing the most important stage of the innovation process (namely, the stage of commercialization of innovations) in a market economy is assigned to private innovation companies, which play a decisive role in the process of transferring a novelty into the innovation category. In addition, they participate in the creation of “innovative solutions” along with universities, research institutes, research centers, etc. Possessing financial resources, innovation business entities are able to conduct longitudinal and rather costly scientific research, which is often difficult to do within the framework of scientific organizations that are state-owned (since they are significantly limited by the financing factor) (Burkina, 2020; Oliveira, 2019).

Based on a review of a number of scientific papers (Zhil’nikov, 2014; Burkina, 2020; Kupriyanov et al., 2020; Golova, 2021; Smotritskaya, Chernykh; 2021; Oliveira, 2019; Oswald, 2019), as well as works by representatives of the theory of endogenous economic growth (P. Romer, R. Lucas, G. Grossman, P. Aghion, D. Audretch, A. Rodriguez-Pose, B. Jovanovich, etc.), whose research is the current mainstream in studying the impact of the innovation factor on the economic development of regions, we can conclude that innovation entrepreneurship provides regions with competitive advantages through the use of qualitatively new means and objects of labor, production of goods with high added value, optimization of a number of production processes, savings on the use of natural resources, development of new market sectors and types of economic activity, creation of new jobs (including high-tech jobs) (Zadumkin, Terebova, 2009; Lucas, 1988; Grossman, Helpman, 1989; Romer, 1990; Rivera-Batiz, Romer, 1991; Romer, 1992; Nelson, Romer, 1996).

Innovation entrepreneurship obviously has a positive impact on the development of the regional economy; the works of both Russian and foreign researchers clearly prove it. Nevertheless, the acute scientific problem still consists in the lack of tools that allow for a comprehensive and objective assessment of the impact of innovation entrepreneurship on the economic development of regions (including an assessment of the degree of such influence).

Within the framework of our work, an attempt is made to solve this scientific problem by applying the methodology of regression analysis of panel data characterizing innovation entrepreneurship. We should note that previously the scientific literature did not use this tool on a wide-scale basis for solving the problem of assessing the impact of innovation business on regional economy. Some studies in which attempts have been made to conduct such an analysis do not consider the specifics of the data that have a panel structure; moreover, the range of indicators characterizing innovation entrepreneurship in these studies is insufficient (Zhil’nikov, 2014; Chelnokova, Sumarokova, 2014). At the same time, when eliminating these “gaps”, we think that the choice of the above-mentioned methodology, due to the structure of the values of the indicators selected for analysis, is the most objective in solving the scientific problem we have defined. This assumption forms the basis of the scientific hypothesis of our study. The hypothesis is formulated as follows: the use of regression analysis of panel data will allow us to obtain consistent, statistically significant estimates of indicators characterizing innovation entrepreneurship and comprehensively characterize its impact on the development of the region’s economy.

Russian regions will be considered as the object of the study. The subject of the research is innovation entrepreneurship as a driver of economic development of RF regions. It is worth noting that innovation entrepreneurship will be understood not only as small or medium-sized enterprises, but as entrepreneurship in general (including large business).

The purpose of the work is to assess the degree of influence of innovation entrepreneurship on the economic development of Russian regions.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to address the following tasks:

• 1.    To review scientific papers that examine the impact of innovation, as well as innovation entrepreneurship on the development of the regional economy.

• 2.    To carry out and scientifically substantiate the selection of statistical indicators reflecting, on the one hand, certain aspects of the activity of innovation entrepreneurship, on the other hand, the development of the economy of Russian regions.

• 3.    To analyze the impact of innovation entrepreneurship on the economic development of RF regions on the basis of the selected indicators through the use of econometric tools.