Implementing Scientific and Technological Territorial Potential Through Interregional Integration Based on the “Smart” Specialization Approach

Abstract

Relevance and objectives of the research. Regional scientific and technological potential can be revealed and fully realized only taking into account the possibilities of interregional partnership and cooperation and provided that the priorities of scientific and technological development of the regions are aligned. The purpose of the article is to analyze the possibilities and prospects for using the “smart” specialization approach to the formation and development of interregional scientific and technological spaces.Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study was the general scientific methods of system analysis, abstraction, induction and deduction, analogy, modeling, specification, comparative and logical research methods. The special methods used were content analysis of literature, bibliometric, comparative geographical and others. The empirical basis of the study was based on data from the Federal State Statistics Service, the statistical information platform Statista, as well as individual strategic regulatory documents. The instrumental base for the analysis was made up of the VOSviewer program, version 1.6.20.Results. The author analyzed and generalized theoretical approaches to the definition of “interregional scientific and technological integration”, presented the author's understanding of “smart” specialization as a strategic approach to the development of regional structural and innovation-technological policies. Unique tools for using this approach are identified and described based on an analysis of European experience. The main barriers to the practical implementation of “smart” specialization in order to build effective interregional scientific and technological integration are analyzed (departmental inconsistency, the content and specificity of requirements for the targeted use of federal budget funds, fragmentation and multidirectionality of measures and instruments of state support, etc.), and key tools for its support are identified. The role of the state in the processes of building internal cooperation chains, the formation of interregional scientific and technological spaces in order to ensure the comprehensive implementation of regional potentials is revealed.Conclusions. It is advisable to implement a unified scientific and technological policy that ensures the synchronization of actions of management subjects at different levels, which will require the elimination of departmental inconsistencies in its implementation, the establishment of uniform transparent principles and rules of the game, a verified system of economic incentives, and, in general, the creation of a high-quality institutional environment. In addition, for the purpose of scientific and technological development of regional spaces, it is necessary to constantly monitor the status and results of using various government support instruments with a view to their subsequent prioritization and linking “smart specialization” strategies with real support measures and distribution of subsidies.