Digital infrastructure as the factor of economic and industrial development: case of Arctic regions of Russian North-West

Abstract

The article is aimed on analysis of digital infrastructure as the factor of economic and industrial development of the three Arctic regions of Russian North-West: Murmanskaya oblast’, Arkhangelskaya oblast’ and Komi Republic. These regions faced serious social and economic problems last years. The only way to solve these problems is reindustrialization and technological modernization. Modern industrial technologies are based on the digital transformation of all business processes of enterprise. That’s why the regional digital infrastructure, information and communication technologies availability is an important factor of economic and industrial development of the regions. The article uses the method of calculation of integrated indicator characterizing the level of development of the digital infrastructure of the regions and proposed a formula for computing the numerical value of the integrated indicator. The formula allows receiving numerical results of calculation, based on data of the state official statistics regarding separate indicators aggregated into two groups. The indicators of the first group characterize the material factor of the digital infrastructure of the region. The second group reflects the real ability of regional business use of information and communication technologies and software. The calculations of the integrated indicator dynamics for the period when statistic data are available for three regions allowed to figure out main factors making impact on the level of digital infrastructure development and formulate recommendations for the future.