The article is devoted to the identification and systematization of theoretical and methodological approaches to the formation of the concept ‘smart region’ in Russia and abroad. The objects of the research are the processes of the sustainable spatial development of a region as a geographically-localized ecosystem of the digital economy. The subject of the research is the organizational, economic and managerial relations that arise in the process of formation and institutionalization of the concept ‘smart region’ in the management of sustainable spatial development. The authors have found that the concept ‘smart region’ is an evolutionary idea. Its main content is the creation and development of the region as competitive in the national and global aspects economic system and safe and comfortable for a person socio-territorial community, determined by a set of economic, social and environmental factors based on the implementation of modern information and communications and other technologies.

The purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of human and innovation potential on the level of GRP per capita. For this purpose, the regions of the Central Federal district were grouped based on data for 2018. In defining economic development suggested indicators: public expenditure on education, share of employed population with higher education, per capita income, expenditure on technological innovations, the proportion of the number of researchers in the total population, innovative activity of the organizations. Using the method of statistical grouping and analysis of variance, we established a close relationship between the level of human and innovation potential and the level of economic development, and also determined the share of variation in GRP, which is explained by each of the factors. Based on the findings, the article suggests regional policy directions for accumulating human potential and increasing innovation activity in the region to increase the level of GRP per capita.

The experience of the leading countries of the world shows that the definition of strategic directions of development, as well as the formation of programs for basic research and advanced applied development, is now mainly engaged in the state in close cooperation with academic and university science, the business environment and public organizations. In countries that are focused on permanently improving the quality of life of their citizens, strengthening their competitive positions, etc., considerable attention is paid to the problem of developing their scientific and educational potential, through the creation of research and educational centers (RECs). In connection with the creation of RECs, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of their functioning. Now, there is no scientifically based methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the RECs functioning. The article discusses the tools for evaluating scientific research that can be used to analyze the effectiveness of RECs activities. The study proposed a method for integrating indicators of the region's development potentials and indicators of the effectiveness of research and educational centers, based on a comparison of trends in the region's development potentials and the performance indicators of RECs. On the basis of the proposed methodology, an assessment of the effectiveness of the world-class REC "Innovative Solutions in the Agro-industrial Complex" was carried out, according to the results of which it is possible to judge the impact of the REC's activities on the economic development of the region.