Content №2 от 2016

The article suggests an approach to measuring and evaluating the factor of innovation on macro- and regional levels without common innovation indicators. Innovation activity is seen as a force that can slow down or even overcome the objective increasing in per-unit investment when shifting to a higher technological level ofproduction. We assess the influence of the inno­vative factor solely in connection with the ratio between investment efforts and the resulting indicators of economic dynamics, growth in labor productivity. Using a particular method of evaluation, we give the assessments of innovation intensity in investment relating to the Russian regions in 2005-2007 and 2008-2013. The article demonstrates significant differences between the line-up of leading regions in some publications. It turns out that the important characteristics of economic development for leading regions identified with the proposed method are much more preferable than those of «innovative» leaders determined with traditional rank-rating approaches. Concerning the Siberian regions, we notice a major polarization of innovation intensity indicators. In fact, no region has moderate innovation indicators.