The article summarizes the factors that determine the innovative development of regional economic systems. It was determined that the desire to diversify the sectoral structure should be based on an understanding of the role of construction as a sector of the economy, outstripping the development of the general economic situation. The hypothesis about the existence of a strong relationship between the volume of work in construction and the volume of output of innovative products in regional economic systems has been put forward and confirmed. In 2010–2018, there is a close relationship between the number of commercialized innovations and the volume of work in the construction industry in Russia. At the same time, the correlation between these parameters in various federal districts and subjects of the Russian Federation is not unambiguous. Russian regions are classified according to the strength of the relationship between these parameters. It is concluded that, mainly, in the border regions, construction is not associated with the development of innovative industries and innovative infrastructure.