Study of sector-specific innovation efforts: The case from Russian economy

Accelerated introduction of digital technology has recently become one of the key areas in development of Russian economy. The paper presents the approach to innovation intensity assessment by sector and economic activity. The method makes it possible to identify the growth intensity for an output of innovative products. This serves as an indicator of introduction of new technologies and a transition to a more high-tech conversion. The narration assumes that innovations in various sectors are unstable and uneven. There is an observation that there was the highest efficiency increase over the period under review in production and distribution of electrical power, gas, and water, and in other low-tech sectors (primarily, food production). There is a highly intensive character of innovations observed in high-tech and medium-tech sectors. There is another observation that the reasons for the unstable and multidirectional dynamics are as follows: High dependence of efficiency and intensity of innovations on external economic shocks, significant impact made by measures of state support on intensity of innovations, concentration of innovating at large-scale Russian and transnational companies. The results obtained led to the conclusion on a need in more stimuli for national demand from the part of Russian businesses for innovations, including digital technology. © 2019 by author(s).