SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF USING REASONABLE SPECIALIZATION IN THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

Abstract

. The article analyzes the uneven economic growth in the regions of Ukraine and proposes the development of regional policy based on the use of the smart specialization idea. As a tool for analyzing the uneven economic development of regions, we used a method based on the comparison of regions by gross regional product per capita, which formed the basis for determining the funnel of backwardness of the region among others in terms of economic growth. The analysis was conducted for 2010 and 2020.  The calculations made it possible to identify areas that differ significantly in development potential. It is proposed to use the ideas of the smart specialization concept as a new model of the Ukraine’s regions economic development in order to equalize interregional disparities.  Revealed the essence of this concept implementation on the example of the Carpathian region economy in 2020 is revealed. It is determined that the formation of educational, tourist and construction clusters in the region are the foundations that will form a long-term strategy for its development. The main measures for the introduction of construction and educational clusters are proposed. The components that determine the innovative development of Ukraine on the basis of the Global Indices of Competitiveness and Innovation are analyzed. Proposed the formation of economic policy, which is aimed at solving strategic tasks of the regions socio-economic development - ensuring economic growth and quality of life in Ukraine. It is justified that the application of the smart specialization approach in long-term regional strategies will contribute to a synergistic effect for both human and innovative development, which is the goal of the new regional economic policy.  To solvethe tasks used general and special research methods, namely: theoretical generalization to clarify the essence of smart specialization), statistical, comparative, comparative and strategic analysis (to calculate and build the dynamics of GRP per capita by region of Ukraine), graphical (for a visual representation of the results of the analysis). In addition, the visualization method was used to build the algorithm for forming the regional policy of Ukraine.