TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC:  ASSESSING THE ROLE OF INNOVATION AND INDUSTRIAL POTENTIAL

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Vladimir S. Zharov1, 2, Elena S. Goryachevskaya3

1, 3Luzin Institute for Economic Studies of the Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Apatity, Russia

2Branch of Murmansk Arctic University in Apatity, Apatity, Russia

1zharov_vs@mail.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-1877-9214

3noskova_lena@mail.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-2513-3999

Abstract. Ensuring the sustainable development of industrial production in the Russian Arctic is a major priority for both the state and the Arctic regions. On the one hand, industry is the principal source of gross regional product (GRP) in these regions; on the other hand, it is a major source of environmental pollution in the Arctic, whose ecosystems have a limited capacity to absorb industrial waste. The study aims to test a methodology for assessing the innovation and industrial potential of the Russian Arctic regions and to examine the relationship between these potentials and the sustainability of industrial development. The analysis is based on a methodology developed by the authors for assessing the technological renewal of industrial production and its technological sustainability, which constitutes the study’s principal scientific contribution. Based on calculations of the levels and dynamics of innovation and industrial potential in nine regions of the Russian Arctic for 2017–2022, regression analyses were conducted for the subpotentials of innovation performance, environmental performance, industrial potential, and innovation potential. These analyses made it possible to identify trends in their development and determine the key factors influencing the sustainable development of the Arctic regions. For all Russian Arctic regions, regression analysis was also used to examine the relationships between material productivity, capital productivity, the level of technological development, and the level of industrial sustainability. In addition, correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relationships between environmental subpotential, innovation performance subpotential, industrial potential, and indicators of the technological sustainability of industrial development in the regions. The results show that there is no direct relationship between the growth of industrial and innovation potential and an increase in the sustainability of industrial production in the Arctic regions. Nevertheless, the expansion of these potentials remains an essential condition and a key driver of the long-term sustainable technological development of the Russian Arctic.

Keywords: analysis, innovation and industrial potential, industrial production, sustainable technological development, Russian Arctic regions

For citation: Zharov V. S., Goryachevskaya E. S. Technological development of industrial production in the Russian Arctic: Assessing the role of innovation and industrial potential. Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka [The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order], 2026, no. 3, pp. 54–76. doi:10.37614/2220-802X.3.2026.93.004.

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