Assessment of level and priority guidelines of Kazakhstan regions’ modernization

In order to develop in line with modern trends of the world technological revolution, digitalization of all industries and economic activities, in Kazakhstan, fundamental transformation of the economy and society in the framework of the modernization paradigm are necessary. Meanwhile, the large regional disparities of socio-economic and scientific-technical development in the country, the lack of a clear assessment of the achieved level of modernization processes in the regions of Kazakhstan complicate the choice of strategy and mechanisms for their further promotion in accordance with the trends of “Industry 4.0”. The purpose of the paper is to assess the level of Kazakhstan regions’ modernization and substantiate priority guidelines and mechanisms of modernization reforms by the types of the regions. For this purpose the following tasks were solved: the basic tenets of modernization theory were studied; the methods of quantitative estimation of its level were studied and adapted to the conditions of Kazakhstan, the degree of completion of Kazakhstan regions’ modernization was assessed and on this basis the regions’ typology was presented; the priorities and mechanisms of modernization reforms by the types of the regions were substantiated. The methods of comparisons and analogies, systematic approach, statistical analysis, ranking and typology were used. The tools of Chinese researchers to measure the degree of modernization completion were adapted to Kazakhstan conditions and applied. The authors used the official information of the statistics Committee of the Ministry of national economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK) and their own research results. The results of the conducted research are methodological recommendations for the assessment of the degree of modernization completeness, the development of regions typology on this basis, and scientifically sound proposals to the regional authorities on the choice of the modernization strategy and its implementation mechanisms in the regions of Kazakhstan. The article is based on the results of grant research No. AP05130845 and scientific programme No. BR05236639 of the Institute of Economics of Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.