The analysis of convergence — Divergence in the development of innovative and technological processes in the countries of the Arctic Council

Abstract

The article gives the estimation of the convergence-divergence indicators of development of innovative and technological processes in circumpolar countries. The processes of convergence — divergence of innovative and technological processes were studied in eight countries of the Arctic Council — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United States of America on the basis of statistical information from 1985 to 2015. As the indicators, measuring innovative and technological processes, the following one were considered: the number of patents issued, the expenditures on technological innovations, the payments of funds for the import of technology, the cash inflow from the export of technology. To analyze the convergence-divergence of innovative and technological processes the methods of the σ — convergence, the absolute β convergence and the conditional β — convergence were used. Using the method of the conditional β — convergence, we analyzed the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and government expenditure on the fundamental research and development (average value of FDI for the period; the average value of government expenditure over the period).