The impact of the knowledge economy indicators on regional economic growth evidence from Russia

The purpose of this study is the evaluation of the impact of the knowledge economy indicators on the level of regional economic development, as measured by the gross regional product (GRP). Grounding on the World Bank's Knowledge Economy Index, we have developed the original Rus-sian Knowledge Economy Index. Then, we allocated the leading and the lagging regions in terms of the knowledge economy

Defining region

Regional studies are right in the center of scientific and political discourse at the moment; regional issues acquire special significance in the countries with a transition economy. However, there is still no clear definition of the term “region”. Due to its multifaceted nature, it certainly has natural, cultural, economic, political, and social dimension. At the same time, this term occupies a wide range of phenomena from small parts of countries to huge continental interstate formations. The goal of this paper is the analysis of various theoretical and methodological approaches to the definition of the region. We have brought different approaches, from the classical school to the New Economic Geography. The latter considers the region as a unit of space for economic activities. Thus, the region becomes a multidisciplinary object of research within the framework of economic theory and economic geography. In Europe, the integration processes put the region on the forefront of economic policy. The issues of regional policy are equally important in the light of the economic modernization processes taking place in Russia and Serbia. This article also summarizes the experience of regional studies of Serbian and Russian schools. The results can be used in further theoretical and applied research, writing theses in the field of economics and economic geography

Outsourcing: global tendencies and russian prospects

Аутсорсинг как социально-экономический феномен уже много лет показывает гигантские темпы роста в мире. В России проникновение аутсорсинга значительно ниже, однако темпы роста также впечатляющие. На фоне кризиса и внешнего давления на экономику России его роль еще более возрастает, т.к. большинство исследователей рассматривают аутсорсинг как средство повышения эффективности и снижения издержек предприятия. В первой части статьи рассмотрены теоретические основания феномена — различные подходы к определению и классификации, преимущества и риски. Также освещаются основные глобальные тренды в этой области. Далее переходим к модели внедрения на практике. Мы постарались рассмотреть различные концепции, было проанализировано большое количество эмпирической литературы, описывающей опыт внедрения аутсорсинга на крупнейших российских предприятиях (автор также опирался на собственный опыт в данном вопросе). Большое внимание было уделено проблемам правового обеспечения аутсорсинга, а также необходимости формирования профессиональных стандартов и образования в области аутсорсинга.Outsourcing is a socio-economic phenomenon having been shown huge growth rates in the world for many years. In Russia penetration of outsourcing is much lower; however growth rates are also impressive. Against crisis and the external pressure upon economy of Russia its role even more increases since most of researchers consider outsourcing as means of increase of efficiency and decrease in expenses of the enterprise. In the first part of the article the theoretical bases of a phenomenon — various approaches to definition and classification, advantages and risks - are considered. Also the main global trends in this area are lit. Further we pass to a model of introduction into practice. We tried to consider various concepts, a large number of the empirical literature describing experience of introduction of outsourcing at the largest Russian enterprises was analyzed (the author also relied on his own experience in the issue). Much attention was paid to problems of legal support of outsourcing, and also need of formation of professional standards and education in the field of outsourcing

Personal site as web portfolio of teachers and students: technologies of creation and promotion

Доклад посвящен одной из самых перспективных образовательных технологий – портфолио. При этом портфолио может и должно создаваться как студентами в процессе обучения, так и педагогами. Рассмотрены теоретические подходы к проблеме: понятие портфолио, его функции и классификация. Из различных видов портфолио по форме исполнения выбрана наиболее гибкая и открытая форма – сетевое (веб) портфолио, которое представляет собой не что иное, как личный сайт. В практической части доклада анализируется два подхода к созданию портфолио. Первый основан на информационной структуре вуза (даны примеры практического внедрения такой платформы в вузах). Второй подразумевает самостоятельное создание веб-портфолио на базе wiki-платформ. Даются конкретные инструменты и рекомендации как по созданию, так и по продвижению сайта.The report is devoted to one of the most perspective educational technologies – a portfolio. In such case portfolio can and it has to be created by both students in the course of training, and teachers. Theoretical approaches to a problem are considered: concept of the portfolio, its functions and classification. Net or web portfolio which is a personal site is chosen from different types of the portfolio as the most flexible and open form. In the practical part of the report two approaches to creation of the web portfolio are analyzed. The first is based on information systems of the university (examples of practical introduction of such platform at the universities are given). The second implies independent creation of web portfolio on the basis of wiki sites. Concrete tools and recommendations both about creation, and about promotion of the site are given

How geopolitics influences international scientific cooperation: the science of contacts

Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Innovation: a state-of-the-art review and typology

Innovation is often an object of study in economics and management. However, the social and behavioral aspects of innovation acceptance are as important as the economics of product development. A significant portion of the literature considers innovation as a change in the way social actions are conducted, entailing a wide range of social, economic, behavioral, and institutional changes. Various approaches have given rise to the need for a typology. Sundbo (1998) divided innovation into three groups depending on the aspects of the phenomenon: theory of entrepreneurship, technological and social aspects, and strategic aspects. Adopting Sundbo's conceptual framework, this study supplemented and developed it based on recent literature that appeared after 1998. Moreover, this study added new directions at the second level of decomposition and the relationships between different aspects of innovation. In particular, this study analyzed phenomena such as open innovation, agile innovation, and “helix” models. Thus, this study developed a novel typology of innovation that expands the theoretical knowledge in this field. Based on these findings, this study proposed promising areas for future innovation studies.Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Russian Journal Whitelist: questions to be answered

The article studies the issues related to the compilation of the Russian Journal Whitelist, which is intended to be used in research evaluation. Currently, this list has been approved and posted on the website of the Russian Center for Scientific Information. Building a hierarchy of journals within this list is still under discussion. A number of questions have been raised in the academic community about the composition and principle of compiling the whitelist, and an answer is required. In addition, there are a number of broader questions, in particular, to what extent journal publications are the best way to evaluate research and researchers. I have formulated a number of such questions, inviting readers to reflection and discussion. Despite the difficult situation that has now developed in international scientific communication, one should look at it not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity to create one of the best systems for research assessment at the moment, free from accumulated bias.Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Knowledge: from ethical category to knowledge capitalism

In the post-industrial economy, the efficiency of scientific knowledge generation becomes crucial. Researchers began to interpret knowledge as a factor of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century; since then, within the theory of economics and management, various approaches have been developed to study the impact of knowledge on economic growth and performance. With time, the focus of knowledge-based theories shifted from corporate management to macrosystems and economic policy. The article describes the main stages in the development of socio-economic concepts of knowledge and analyzes the theoretical and methodological aspects of each approach. The authors have also formulated the critical problems in the analysis of the economic category of knowledge at the present stage and suggested ways of overcoming them. The article may be of interest both to researchers and practitioners in the sphere of corporate strategies and economic policy.Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

The Changing Role of Universities in Economic Growth

Social and economic evolution is described by numerous wave and cyclic concepts. Nevertheless, at certain historical periods, societies make great breakthroughs known as technological revolutions. Now we are on the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution characterized by a rapid development of such industries, as robotics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, brain engineering, and 3D printing. Social and economic development always went in parallel with science. However, the role of science in economic processes has been changing throughout time. The focus of the present research is the university as a key actor of economic change. Historically, it is possible to allocate four types of universities by analogy with four industrial revolutions. Under the conditions of the fourth industrial revolution there is a radical shift in the university model. From R&D and technology transfer universities move to creation of intellectual capital. Universities do not simply conduct R&D for business, but also create essentially new industries. Universities become a centre round which new hi-tech enterprises grow. This phenomenon has been entitled an entrepreneurial university, which is considered to be the main actor of entrepreneurial (startup) economy. The research main objective is identification of key factors in the entrepreneurial university success. The authors analysed the Global University Venturing ranking leading universities. The research is not limited to the quantitative data; qualitative indicators are also of great importance. Various techniques to estimate the university entrepreneurial capacity (Reuters, EULP-Entrepreneurial Universities Leaders Program) have been considered, and their comparative analysis has been conducted. The final model is based both on quantitative or qualitative indicators; the model can be used not only for estimation of entrepreneurial capability, but for the development of university strategy as well

Factors of research groups’ productivity: The case of the Ural Federal University

Relevance. One of the main goals of state university support programs in Russia is to increase the number of scientific publications. In 2021, Project 5-100 was replaced by the program PRIORITY 2030 (Strategic Academic Leadership Program). The new program increased the significance of the factors affecting the number of publications in universities and the issue of the optimal allocation of funding among research groups.Research objective. This study examines the factors that affect the productivity of research groups at the university. Unlike the majority of other studies on this topic, this study analyzes scientific productivity at the level of research groups.Data and methods. The study was possible due to the availability of data for 79 research groups at the Ural Federal University for the period from 2014 to 2020. The total number of articles and the number of articles in journals with an impact factor of more than two were used as indicators of research groups’ performance. To determine the factors influencing these indicators, we used econometric models for panel data. We used two separate samples: for social sciences and humanities and for other sciences.Results. We identified the following factors affecting the performance of research groups: the number of participants, the age of the research group, the supervisor’s scientific age, and the amount of funding (the possibility of obtaining more funds or being denied funds). The most interesting result is the following: the supervisor's scientific age and increased funding have a negative impact on the group’s performance. The article provides possible explanations for these results.Conclusion. Since the purpose of creating and funding research groups is primarily to increase their productivity, the results may be in favor of younger supervisors. University managers may also be interested in the ambiguous impact of increased funding: we suppose that research groups are more motivated not by the actual funding but by the prospective amount they may get