Analytical model for measuring the digital economy of the regions of the Russian Federation based on signal indicators

Aim . The work aimed to construct an analytical model for measuring the three-level digital economy development in the regions of the Russian Federation (RF) based on official statistics. Objectives . The work seeks to examine a number of official statistical indicators reflecting the use of information and communication technologies by organizations to obtain quantitative assessments of the development of individual fields of the digital economy in Russian regions; to identify spatial differentiation among regions based on broadband internet usage by organizations in 2010–2024. Methods . The work employed a signal-based approach to official statistics and a special grouping of regions, proposed by E. L. Domnich for distributing regions based on average annual enterprise expenditures on innovation. Results . An analytical model for measuring the three-level (low, medium, and high) digital economy development in Russian regions was constructed based on statistical data on broadband internet usage by organizations in 2010–2024. The work revealed a significant impact of the registered values in the Moscow region on the dynamics of the national indicator. Specific dynamics of individual regions are highlighted, regardless of their membership in a particular innovative group of regions. Conclusions . The examined features of spatial differentiation of regions by broadband internet usage demonstrate the complex nature of the interaction between digital and innovative criteria. The significant decline in the studied indicator in 2020, which is common to almost all regions of the Russian Federation, including Moscow, suggests hypothesis of economic changes, possibly structural in nature, registered in the digital economy in 2020–2021 in regions of the Russian Federation, that remain in low and medium signal indication zones for the parameter under study. The analytical model developed can be used to analyze other official statistical indicators characterizing the development of the regional digital economy.