Digital Transformation in the Agrarian and Industrial Sectors of the Russian Regional Economics

Abstract

Abstract The article displays the results of comparing the digitalization process in agrarian and industrial production. The objects of study are the companies of the eighty-two Russian regions. The information was obtained from open-access resources of the Russian State Statistics Bureau. The research aims at revealing the differentiation and the specific interconnection of digital transformation in agriculture and industrial production at the regional level. The observations prove the idea that the digitalization path and tempo depend on the unique regional conditions and the accumulated level of scientific and innovative potential. A controversy is revealed in the methodology of evaluating the digital maturity rate which was proposed by the Russian regulators for assessments at the federal and regional scale. The methodology implies equal weights of significance attributed to various sectors when measuring the regional level of digital transformation. Consequently, the socioeconomic context of the diverse regional systems is treated as a barrier to digitalization and an obstacle to intensive development. At the same time, it is a question of open discussion if digitalization of such peculiar sectors as agriculture and industrial production should be measured with similar methods.