Developing ecosystems of social innovation in the context of creating regional innovative subsystems

Innovative economic development is one of the priorities of state policy at both federal and regional levels. At the same time, special attention is paid to the formation of regional innovative subsystems, since effective functioning of the national innovative system is not possible without their development and interaction. The article focuses on the main problems of creating regional innovative subsystems in Russia with an emphasis on forming the ecosystems of social innovation. This issue is quite relevant as technological innovations prevail among Russian studies devoted to regional economics and management practices. At the same time, global experience shows that social innovations can make a significant contribution to solving many issues of economic and social development of the territories and regional development growth. In this regard, the author proposes to identify the regional socio-innovative subsystem within the framework of the regional innovative subsystem and to analyze its development from the point of view of the ecosystem approach. The article presents an overview of key issues of implementing social innovations and creating social innovative ecosystems in Russia dealing with both theoretical and practical issues of the topic under consideration (underdevelopment of theoretical and methodological basis of research on social innovations, underdevelopment of existing legislation in the sphere of social innovations, lack of statistical records and information about social innovations, low level of social activity of the population). The author emphasizes the main drivers and barriers to the development of social innovations and suggests the main directions of solving the identified problems in the context of developing regional social and innovative ecosystems.