The development of old industrial regions of the Southern federal district under the economy digitalization: the role of the digital B2B trade

The article substantiates the significance of technological (digital) modernization of enterprises in the old industrial regions of Russia that involves all stages of the production process organization, in order to give impetus to their development during transition to the new technological order. Such a transition should be performed taking into account the imperative of resolving the contradictions between traditional and innovative factors in the development of regional economies of this type, characterized by the susceptibility to innovations reproducing the imbalance of regional development. The analysis of indicators of the industrial sector development, the formation of the digital economy infrastructure and the innovative activity of enterprises in the Volgograd and Rostov regions made it possible to argue the interconnection between the low susceptibility to innovations and the insufficient degree of diversification and science intensity of manufactured products, the emergence of distortions in the regional exports’ structure. The use of the digital technology (as “general purpose technology”) is considered as an effective way to activate all factors in the development of all sectors of the economy of old industrial regions in Russia and provide a significant contribution to solving priority tasks of the Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2025 and their modernization in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. The author substantiates the necessity of the accelerated formation of the digital trade infrastructure in the B2B segment, including the increase in the number of domestic B2B marketplaces (specialized and universal ones) to enhance the business entities participation in domestic and foreign trade and reduce the level of differentiation of these regions’ technological and socio-economic development.