Complex technique of multifactorial assessment of scientific potential in the regions of the Southern federal district

The article is devoted to methodological issues of the research of the scientific potential of regional economic systems. The authors studied the existing domestic and foreign methodology adapted to Russian conditions for assessing the potential of science and technology area, analyzed their advantages and disadvantages, and as a result they developed and tested a system of quantitative and qualitative indicators of evaluation of the scientific potential of the regional economic system (consisting of 22 relative indicators, grouped into six main units - the human, scientific and innovative, financial, logistical, informational and institutional components) and offered to use their own technique of complex multifactorial assessment of the overall state of the scientific potential of the region (on the example of regions of the Southern Federal District). The complex comparative rating assessment was used in the region for a particular method of synthesis of private (basic) indicators in a single integrated indicator of the general state of the scientific capacity in the region. Positioning (with the release of groups of regions with high, medium and low levels of scientific potential development) and zoning of macroregion by meaning of rating of scientific potential deviation was carried out to develop guidelines for the management of research activities in the regions of the Southern Federal District. To be able to visualize the distribution of the data on the territory of the macroregion, a thematic map of the zoning of the Southern Federal District was also presented.