The volume of direct investments in the economies of individual regions and the country as a whole is a key indicator of development determining the current and future potential of territorial units and federal entities. Virtually all countries of the world are open to investment and the governments create favorable conditions for their involvement, including via the mechanism of legislative initiatives and practices, and Russia is no exception in this respect. The article presents a comparative analysis of methodological approaches and selection criteria for investment projects for the provision of state support measures within the framework of generally accepted world methods and regulatory acts of the federal and regional authorities of the Russian Federation. The developed classifications of methodological approaches and criteria indicate the imperfection of methodological standards currently used in the field of investment and project analysis for the selection of investment projects for the private sector of the economy for the provision of state support measures, and the need for methodological novation.

With the development of business support systems for enterprises, the analysis of the activities of organizations-recipients of state financial aid is becoming particularly relevant today. The article analyzes the activities of organizations controlling risks in interaction with contractors with public funding. The article covers the features of obtaining state subsidies considering both positive factors affecting the development of enterprises and in the emergence of new risks for the budget and contractors involved in economic relations with the enterprises. This paper analyses the data on the return of subsidies by the enterprises within the individual state programs and the outcomes of judicial proceedings by the example of the Novosibirsk region. The aim of the study is to develop approaches and recommendations on implementation of external and internal control of risk assessment when interacting with counterparties-recipients of state subsidies. The study formulates the issues and suggests possible solutions to forecast the results of deterioration in financial position of the counterparty due to repayment of subsidies and assess its impact on the fulfillment of obligations to pay off the accounts payable or other economic relations. The study reveals the features of business partnership with a counterparty - a cluster actor - and the approaches to monitor and assess the risks of such cooperation, given the unfavorable developments on refunding the subsidies in case the conditions for its provision are violated.

Although the volume of Russian housing construction has exceeded in recent years the maximal level of the Soviet times, the key problem of this branch is low efficiency. In particular, it is low technological level of construction and industry of construction materials, high resource intensity of construction, monopolization of market for construction materials, low productivity of labor. Administrative barriers also play a considerable role, giving rise to additional costs and increasing duration of construction. In time of crises, a dramatic worsening of business conditions commonly causes reorganization of the industry, removing inefficient actors from the market and forcing actors that remain to intensively find and implement every possibility for survival by means of improving efficiency. However, the 2008- 2009 crisis and the “sluggish” crisis of the recent had no such an effect in the Russian housing construction. This evidences stability of the existing system against external disturbances; low efficiency in this branch permanently reproduces itself under the impact of a complex of interrelated factors. Thus, the problem has the system nature. This article analyze the structure of the problem and the interaction of factors that cause its self-reproduction. The analysis is performed both at the level of the housing construction as a whole and at the level of specific construction firm.

In the latest political discourses, urban agglomerations are considered as poles of growth. However, an impact of large cities on the neighboring territories is ambiguous and depends on how successfully the impulses and quality of growth is transmitted from the center to the periphery. The paper presents empirical estimates of the effect the agglomeration process produces on the value of residential real estate. The housing market is known as an indicator of income level in the population and perspectives of territorial development. The tested assumption (hypothesis) implies that in the cities adjacent to the agglomerations housing prices are higher than in the settlements beyond its borders. Coupled with the fact of belonging to agglomeration, in the regression, where dependent variable is the average residential square meter price , the distance to the center of the metropolitan area, the distance to Moscow, and the population density in the city is controlled. The estimates showed that in the cities of agglomeration housing prices are significantly higher than in the cities outside the agglomeration. This result is an indirect confirmation of the fact that positive effects of agglomeration process are dominating in the Russian urban system. Practical recommendation of the paper is to provide an institutional environment aimed at efficient urban governance, development of agglomerations and realization of their potential on the basis of federalism and decentralization.

The significance of the eastern direction in Russia’s energy policy increases over time. Computer modeling of the development of the energy complex in the eastern regions of Russia is of great theoretical and practical importance as a method for studying large and complex systems. The purpose of the study is energy-economic analysis, the identification of trends and patterns of development of the energy complex of the eastern regions, the determination of factors affecting the energy efficiency of the economy. Research methods are economic and mathematical modeling, system and statistical analysis, balance and indicative methods. Results of the study: energy balances for 2005-20016 have been developed, an analysis of the energy complex of the eastern regions of Russia has been carried out, the main problems of its development have been identified, the forecast of the energy intensity of the gross regional product and the costs of technological innovation have been made. Conclusions: to eliminate the problems of the development of the energy complex of the eastern regions, it is necessary to increase the energy efficiency of their economies, it is necessary to improve the structure of the energy balance of the eastern regions of Russia and introduce technological innovations in all spheres of economic activity. Energy saving measures will reduce the cost of production and consumption of fuel and energy resources, reduce losses at all stages of their life cycle. Planned indicators of socio-economic development can be achieved with less energy and financial costs.

A broad analysis of theoretical and empirical studies of the impact of infrastructure development on economic growth has revealed both positive and negative results. The main purpose of the research is to assess the impact of the major oil pipeline project on both national and regional economic growth and economic development of the Far Eastern Federal District in particular. The methodological basis of the study is the combination of project analysis (costbenefit analysis), spatial input-output analysis with the use of optimized cross-sectoral inter-regional models, and econometric analysis. As a result, potential market capacity in some partner countries of the Asia-Pacific region (China, South Korea, Japan) has been analyzed on the basis of market analysis framework of the project. The forecast of possible volumes of oil consumption has been presented. The comprehensive evaluation of the project efficiency has been obtained by accounting tax and indirect effects (growth in overall output) arising from its implementation. The study has shown that the contribution of the oil pipeline project to the economic development of the Far Eastern Federal District is relatively insignificant; it seems to be much more significant for the development of Russia rather than the development of the District.

Actualization of innovative and breakthrough scenarios for the development of Russia has stimulated interest among the federal authorities and constituent bodies in applying project management methodology for elaboration of socioeconomic development strategies of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the place of macro-regions and integrated megaprojects in strategic planning and management of spatial development of the Russian Federation and to highlight the need for a cluster approach in spatial organization of resource regions. The study analyses the experience of incorporating the spatial factor into the national strategic planning framework. Based on systematization of expert community assessments, the key directions for modernization of the framework for the development of spatial strategy for socio-economic development in the Russian Federation are identified. The authors propose a concept for developing a strategy for spatial development of Russia based on implementation of both national and corporate multi-regional megaprojects with the focus on innovation growth and modernization of the developed economic areas of the regions - the subjects of the Russian Federation. The study stresses the need for planning the formation of macro-regions as an institution for the analysis of interregional relations, coordination of interests of corporations and federal entities in complex national mega-projects. The study reveals the impact of promising resource megaprojects on cluster activation and the connectedness of economic areas in resource regions.

This study discusses the current state and prospects of cooperation between China and Russia in the field of education. In the context of the project “The Belt and Road Initiative”, the Eurasian economic Union for cooperation between the two countries in the field of higher education opens up new opportunities and prospects. Cooperation between countries at several levels of training: at the level of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies. This paper focuses on the features, problems and new opportunities of training in the field of science and education, training of students and he development of intercultural communication. The article provides a detailed analysis of the existing agreements and concludes with the development prospects, taking into account the needs of the two countries. The presented analysis will make it possible to form an idea about not only the current state of cooperation in higher education for the two countries, but also to determine the vector of further development to strengthen international relations in this area.

At the threshold of the new millennium, there was a change in the dominant conceptual framework used to analyze scientific and technological development (STD). The article outlines the directions for the transformation of methodological approaches under the conditions of modern scientific and technological revolution. First, an overview of conceptual constructions of scientific and technological revolution is given with an emphasis on its main stages and the corresponding change in the trajectories of technological development by analyzing the change in technological paradigms, including in the context of long-term cyclical changes based on Kondratieff’s and Akamatsu’s theory as well as various industrial revolutions. The trends of the modern scientific and technological revolution are viewed in accordance with the stages of modeling long-term waves and the fourth industrial revolution. Special attention is paid to the research method of science and technology (STS). The STS method is a new conceptual approach to the study of scientific and technological revolution and includes laboratory research, actor-network theory, and the methods of ethnomethodology, scientific metrics, and constructing knowledge spaces. Approaches to the study of the role of ethics are presented as an important part of the concept of scientific and technological revolution, including the analysis of values in the formation of technologies, methods for studying ethics-related issues in STS, growing inequality in modern conditions, and technological moral actions.

This study aims at proposing and analysing a new holistic approach for studying Blockchain-based intellectual property rights (IPRs) ecosystem, since Blockchain technology has a potential to revolutionize the conventional intellectual property rights system and overcome problems of this system associated with rights protection, securing trade secrets, claiming copyrights, proving prior use, and data availability. In this study documentary research method (DSM) is used to build a comprehensive framework including all possible components and stakeholders in the intellectual property rights system. This framework illustrates the workflow scheme of a Blockchain-based IPRs platform. The introduced approach in this study consists of several steps, beginning with identifying stakeholders and ending with designing the mechanism by which the Blockchain-based IPRs platform works. This study introduces this new approach in order to draw roadmap for deploying Blockchain technology in the current intellectual property rights system. Moreover, this study provides policy makers with procedural details guiding them to make optimal policies related to using this new technology.

The article is devoted to the actual problems of training and human resource management and administration for priority industry sectors in Murmansk region. The research is aimed at both identifying the problems which could prevent the creation of effective human resource training and management system and suggesting the mechanisms to enhance the current system. Based on statistical analysis of such indicators as entrepreneurship turnover, quantity and the number of employees, the main tendency for the development of Murmansk regional entrepreneurship sectors has been established. By applying expert estimation method and statistical analysis entrepreneurships priority sectors, which are of particular socio-economic importance for the region, have been identified. Based on the expert evaluation, the problems of business and government interaction on human resource training has been established. The application of SWOT-analysis and survey method has made it possible to determine that there is a lack of industrial workforce in the region, and the offered training programs do not fully meet the required vocational needs of the entrepreneurship sector due to a fall in the prestige of blue-collar jobs among the youth. The results of the analytical research confirmed the hypothesis that human resource training and management system for regional entrepreneurship sectors remains rather weak. Based on the selected Murmansk regional entrepreneurship sectors, proposals and measures have been developed on further improving human resource training and management system. Besides, activities directed at promoting vocational training clusters and rising interest of market players in occupations which are in demand in the region. A common framework for assessing the effectiveness of the proposed measures has been elaborated. The results of the research could be of particular interest for entrepreneurship sectors in the Murmansk region.