Study on readiness of Russian regions for digital transformation

The work is devoted to the study of the readiness of Russian regions to implement digital transformation. The relevance of the research is due to the widespread introduction of advanced digital and intelligent technologies, as well as the need to transition to a digital economy. The processes of digital transformation are increasingly penetrating into the life of the regions, and have a direct impact on their socio-economic situation. At the state level, a significant number of programs and strategic documents are being created for the development of the digital economy throughout the Russian Federation, while the interests of the regions are considered only indirectly. The absence of a developed regional policy aimed at digitalization of regions leads to an increase in the differentiation of regions by the level of digital development. In this connection, there is a need to assess the level of digital development of the regions of Russia, to determine the readiness of the regions to implement digital transformations, or to obtain results indicating that the processes of digital transformation already confidently permeate all socio-economic activities of the regions. To assess the level of digital development of regions, it is necessary to choose an appropriate methodology that informatively and objectively reflects the situation of digital transformations in the region. In this connection, the article conducts a study of existing domestic and foreign methods that assess the level of digital development. As a result, the authors have developed and proposed an integral indicator for assessing the digital development of Russian regions, which includes the main indicators of the digital development of society, business and the state. With the help of the proposed integral indicator, the level of digital development of each region of Russia in 2012 and 2019 is determined. A comparative analysis of changes in the values of the integral indicator reflecting the level of digital development of the regions from 2012 to 2019 was carried out. The dynamics of changes in digital processes in various regions of Russia is determined. The leading regions that have achieved high results in digital development, as well as lagging regions, have been identified. At the end, the main conclusions are given and some reasons for significant changes in the level of digital development in certain regions are identified.