Innovation in Russia: The Territorial Dimension

The debate on Russia’s innovation performance has paid little attention to the role of geography. This article addresses this gap by integrating an evolutionary dimension in an augmented regional knowledge production function framework to examine the territorial dynamics of knowledge creation in Russia. The empirical analysis identifies a strong link between regional research and development (R&D) expenditure and patenting performance. However, R&D appears inadequately connected to regional human capital. Conversely, multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a fundamental role as global knowledge pipelines. The incorporation of historic variables reveals that the Russian case is a striking example of long-term path dependency in regional patterns of knowledge generation. Endowment with Soviet-founded science cities remains a strong predictor of current patenting. However, current innovation drivers and policies also concur to enhance (or hinder) innovation performance in all regions. The alignment of regional innovation efforts, exposure to localized knowledge flows and injections of foreign knowledge channeled by MNEs make path renewal and path creation possible, opening new windows of locational opportunity.