Information Openness of Regional Development Agencies in Russia: Trends and Forecasts

Abstract

During last decades Russia was in the process of forming a market of regional development institutions, the structure of which includes such managing entities as regional development corporations (agencies). The article examines the information openness of Russian regional development corporations (RDC). It gives quantitative assessment and shows the qualitative transformation of this phenomenon in 2016 and 2020. The official websites and portals of these organizations are used as information base. Comparison information openness ratings of the Russian RDC for 2016 and 2020, built by the authors, allowed establishing few important facts and trends’ development. Firstly, the number of RDCs is slowly but surely growing. Secondly, their information openness has slightly increased over the last four years. Thirdly, the difference between the indicators of information openness of the RDC has sharply decreased, what indicates an increase in competition between these structures in the all-Russian information market. Fourthly, the work to improve awareness of RDC activities is spontaneous and does not involve any reporting standards. The experience of Canada and Australia was considered to identify management reserves in the work of Russian RDCs. That allowed to formulate few proposals. First, it is advisable to increase the number of domestic RDCs by 2–3 times. Secondly, a unified standard for RDC corporate reporting and a Federal portal with their contact details are necessary. Thirdly, RDC should not only participate in the implementation of regional projects, but also develop a promising model for the development of the territory, considering its specifics, which is currently absent.