Publication of the “High-Tech Business in Russia’s Regions” National Report: Where is Non-Oil and Gas Growth to Be Found?

Vera Barinova and Stepan Zemtsov, experts of the Innovation Economy Department, the Gaidar Institute took part in development of the National Report: High-Tech Business in Russia’s Regions”.


The Report was prepared by a team of authors of the RANEPA, the Gaidar Institute and the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) under the auspices of the Interfax Group.  The report was presented at the Gaidar Forum in January 2019 and made available to the public for the first time.

The mission of the Report is the promotion of high-tech technologies and technological enterprise in Russia. The purpose of the research is the identification of the centers of non-oil and gas growth and regions which are more attractive for development of new technologies and start-ups. The Report actually presents two ratings:  one rating estimates constituent entities of the Russian Federation in terms of their conditions for development of the high-tech business (personnel, infrastructure, institutes and markets), while the other presents the ranging of regions where the high-tech business has already contributed greatly to promotion of non-oil and gas growth and exports, creation of new jobs and development of the tax base.

For the first time, a few topical surveys dealing with the risks of digital economy and the specifics of the military-industrial complex and the high-tech promotion policy were prepared.  Also, the profiles of the AIRR regions with the main indices of development of the high-tech business were prepared for the first time.  

The analysis of the high-tech sector points to weak positive dynamics of that sector’s contribution to the economy. Though the RF President’s May 2018 Decree is not particularly oriented at development of high technologies, individual measures have been included in seven out of ten national projects. However, there is a number of regions which have already carried out independently and quite successfully the policy of development of the high-tech sector. These regions include the Novosibirsk Region, the Tomsk Region, the Kaluga Region, the Republic of Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, the Moscow Region, the Samara Region, the Ulyanov Region, the Tyumen Region, Bashkortostan and Mordovia.  

One can get familiar with the report here.