Methodological approaches to assessing the digitalization scale in types of economic activity in the region and the potential of digital technologies for the real economy

Abstract

Subject. As digital technologies spread across all industries, active processes of digital transformation need to be managed both nationally and regionally. Assessing the extent of digitalization across types of economic activities is the key issue for setting up the socio-economic development strategy of the region and evaluating its efficiency. Objectives. The study is aimed to formulate and test methodological approaches to assessing the digitalization in types of economic activities and the potential of digital technologies for the real economy. Methods. The study relies upon the dialectical method, systems approach, questionnaires, expert approach, interpretation of empirical facts through tables, etc. Results. We devised a methodological approaches to assessing the extent of digitalization in types of economic activities across regions. The approach combines the quantification and evaluation of the process and helps determine the extent of local digital transformation at the regional level. We devised and tested the methodological approach to rating digital technologies, which have the high potential for raising the competitiveness and resilience to competition of the industrial sector in the Russian regions. As opposed to the existing approaches, the approach accounts for the current scale of digital technologies in the national economy, the potential for growth in the demand and supply in the domestic and foreign markets, and the potential for import substitution with respect to foreign technologies and products. Conclusions and Relevance. What makes the proposed methodological approaches more preferable is that they help assess not only the extent of digitalization in types of economic activities and the predominance of certain types in industrial enterprises, but also determine their potential for import substitution in terms of digital security.