Aim. The presented study aims to develop a methodology for assessing the innovative solvency of exports from Russian regions and to identify the leading exporting regions in the development of the country’s innovative exports. Tasks. The authors clarify the definition of ‘innovative solvency of regional exports’; develop a methodology for assessing the innovative component of regional exports; test methodological recommendations for assessing the innovative solvency of exports through the example of industrial regions. Methods. The approach to determining the innovative solvency of regional exports is based on a matrix measurement method using two-component evaluation tools. This method also makes it possible to compare the level of the region’s existing foreign economic relations with the level of the regional production system when considering the latter as a resource and a prerequisite for further increasing the level of innovation in exports; to assess the degree of regional potential realization through a separate comparison of the indicators of commodity production and exports of goods and indicators reflecting the level of production technologies and their exports. Results. A typology of exporting regions is proposed based on the synthesis of two criteria: the level of development of the innovative component in the exports of the region and the level of development of advanced innovative technologies in the region. The study confirms the hypothesis about the heterogeneity of Russian regions in terms of the innovative component of their exports, which has a direct impact on the development of the corresponding regional development strategies. Of the 34 exporting regions analyzed, only 16 regions can be identified as exporters of innovative goods. Conclusions. The methodology proposed by the authors makes it possible to qualitatively assess the innovative component of regional exports based on quantitative data, which reveals the potential of the regional production system for innovative production, and to compare it with the existing and projected levels of innovative exports. The practical significance of this study consists in the formation of a list of regions leading in innovative exports, which can be useful for public authorities when adjusting programs aimed at stimulating innovation activity and forming an export-oriented national economy.

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The research of socio-economic differentiation and regional convergence development allows us to give an objective assessment of the current state of the country's economy at the sub-territorial level. Research of the process of industrial regions convergence of the Russian Federation for the development of proposals aimed at eliminating the identified proportions. Check the scientific hypothesis about the presence of significant differences in the degree of development processes convergence among various groups of Russian regions, formed according to the principle of industry specialization of the production complex. The research uses economic, mathematical, and statistical information processing methods. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the works of Russian and foreign researchers in the field of regional development. The information basis includes statistical databases for the period 1999-2019. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that for the regions of the Russian Federation it can be considered that there are no convergence processes. When conducting research on industrial regions with different specialization of the industrial complex, it was revealed that convergence processes were periodically observed among agricultural ones, including due to β-convergence, while regions with raw materials and industrial specialization had a pronounced divergence of development.

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The article searches for sources to boost regional economic growth, which is highly significant for building an effective industrial policy for the development of the state. The research proves a scientific hypothesis that in modern economic conditions export-oriented industrial technologies act as drivers of the regional economic growth. The methodological basis of the study rests on a set of theories of economic growth and regional economics. The results of the analysis of the "activating", "integrating" and "institutional" approaches allowed the authors to revise the concept "driver of economic growth" and propose a classification of the drivers, which was based on the criteria of the sphere of origin; source; method of origin; genesis and level of economic growth. The article identifies priority types of drivers that arise from the development of export activity in the territory. Their impact on economic growth was analysed through econometric modelling. Proceeding from the data on the subjects of the Russian Federation for 2011-2016, the paper unveils empirical scientific evidence that export-oriented industrial technologies generate two most influential impulses for economic growth: growth in the volume of shipments and in tax revenues coming to regions' consolidated budgets. The authors established that for the observed period, Russian industrial exports were not based on innovation. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of applying its findings for devising socioeconomic development strategies of regions of the Russian Federation.