Innovative milieu is an elusive networking scheme established within geospatial, socio-economic, institutional, and knowledge types of boundaries that enable the actors involved to excel in particular field(s) of activity. Generally these are high-tech sectors of the economy, the so called smart and creative industries that are highly reliant on human capital, knowledge, and competences. Gradual expansion of interregional and international ties increases the possibility for synergies, fostering network diversification and intra-regional overspecialisation all at the same time. Along with numerous positive externalities, such as avoidance of the cognitive lock-in effect, regional clusters of excellence become dependent on their external counterparts, either within national or international domain. This dependence is caused by utilization of shared science and technology facilities, interdependent production processes, complementary technologies, etc. Unforeseen circumstances, such as temporal economic sanctions and product embargo can affect the sustainability of the innovation activity in the region and create structural holes along the value chain. Regional innovation policy should account for possible threats to the regional as well as national innovation systems. In this paper we examine different scenarios for the development of innovative milieus across borders. The study draws upon cross-border cooperation initiatives of European border regions, featuring brief case study examples for each of the negative development scenarios identified. There are three major types of threats to innovation security of a border region determined: a) disintegration and decay, b) internal asymmetries, c) unilateral integration initiatives. The article concludes with policy recommendations on innovation security strategy for the borderland regions.

Hydroelectricity remains the dominate RES (Renewable Energy Source) and the most developed, reaching growth rate peaks in some countries in the 20th century. However, the share of it has fallen over the last few years, as other renewable sources have received rapid development. Despite this, growth for hydroelectricity has remained stable, with China, India, Japan, Russia, Turkey, France, Norway, Canada, USA and Brazil as market leaders. This article analyzes the key trends of development of the hydroelectricity market as a whole, as well as the financial stability of its organizations using bankruptcy likelihood prediction models. The Brazilian and Russian companies were chosen to assess as both countries are classified as developing markets. The bankruptcy prediction models indicate that overall, the financial stability of hydroelectricity giants of Brazil and Russia is at a high level, though profitability ratios are very low. During the COVID-19 pandemic, several financial support measures were implemented by governments, along with the already existing instruments for stimulating renewable energy growth. Authors’ forecasts show that current trends on the market indicate that net addition capacity growth in the next few years will not be enough to meet Net Zero goals for the renewables market.

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This article presents regional-level data that can be used for comparative territorial studies on innovation dynamics. The dataset covers a series of 50 indicators grouped into a matrix of 5 elements of regional innovation system (human resources – HR, infrastructure, research & development sector – R&D, innovative milieu, framework conditions) and 5 components of innovation security (economic, scientific and technological – S&T, social, political, geo-ecological). This complex set of interrelated data enables to grasp the catalyst and inhibitor factors that have a significant impact on the sustainable development of a particular regional innovation system. The innovation security approach used enables to consider the locus of innovation processes, account for the relationship between individual components of regional innovation systems and acknowledge for the unique properties of the regions. The database includes statistics for a total set of 85 regions of the Russian Federation over a period of 2015 and 2016. Spatial differentiation is made on to coastal and inland regions. This enables to identify the development patterns as influenced by the global trend of coastalization.

The large-scale implementation of the digital technologies in conditions of the transformation of the economic model of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) requires new approaches in the registration of labor relations, due to the presence of an integrated legal institution of labor relations in the digital economy, which includes the norms of economic and labor law. Questions arise on the possibility of broader application of various aspects of the digital economy to the issues of regulating labor and other directly related relations so that these processes could be consolidated at the legislative level and in local regulations. The article is devoted to the legal aspects of the introduction of electronic documents. The key element in deciding on the establishment of the electronic document management (for example , electronic labor contract) is the issue of entering into, modifying and terminating an employment contract in electronic form. To do this, according to the authors, it is necessary to resolve the issue of changing the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in which it is stated that the employment contract is concluded in writing, drawn up in two copies, each of which is signed by the parties. It also requires a legislative decision on the issue of a written notice to the employee about changes in the conditions of the employment contract and familiarization with relevant orders (instructions).