UDC 331

Levicheva S.V.¹ (Moscow, Russian Federation) – parabola.08@mail.ru; Kozachek A.V.² (Tambov, Russian Federation) – avkozachek@list.ru; Zagretsky I.E.² (Tambov, Russian Federation) – zagretskyigor@yandex.ru; Baksheev A.I.³ (Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation) – baksh-ai@yandex.ru

¹Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University)

²Tambov State Technical University

³Krasnoyarsk State Medical University named after Professor V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky

Abstract. The article is devoted to the analysis of the role of the system of support for talented youth and the digitalization of the economy in the innovative and technological development of the regions of the Russian Federation. Statement of the problem. Spatial inequality in the innovative activity of Russian regions is consistently reproduced: according to the Ranking of Innovative Development of the Subjects of the Russian Federation of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (RRII HSE, 8th edition, 2023), more than half of the constituent entities of the Federation lag behind the leader in the integral innovation index by more than 40%. Scaling up of programs to support young researchers and intensification of digital transformation processes have not yet led to overcoming this imbalance. The objective of the work is to identify barriers to innovative development and assess how their severity correlates with the actual innovative status of the region. Methodology. A semi-structured expert survey of representatives of regional governments, technology parks and the academic community (n = 24) from all 8 federal districts was conducted; Barrier assessments on the Likert scale were compared with the actual positions of regions in the ranking using the Spearman rank coefficient method. Scope. The results serve as a basis for developing differentiated strategies for the innovative development of regions. Novelty. It was found that the nature of the key barriers systematically differs depending on the innovation status of the region: in innovatively developed regions, the outflow of qualified personnel is more acutely perceived (ρ = -0.52), while in lagging regions, the deficit in digital infrastructure is greater (ρ = +0.61). Conclusions. Effective innovation policy requires not the unification of tools, but their differentiation in accordance with the level of innovation maturity of the territory.

Keywords: regional innovation systems, human capital, support for talented youth, digitalization of the economy, labor outflow, innovative development of regions, expert survey, spatial inequality.

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For citation: Levicheva, S. V., Kozachek, A. V., Zagretsky, I. E., & Baksheev, A. I. (2026). Developing human capital through supporting youth: A regional aspect of digitalization. CITISE, 3, 127-136. (In Russian).