The Industry 4.0 concept acts as a theoretical foundation for introducing digital technologies into production and management processes which leads to the digital transformation of economy including the one at the level of territories. The efficiency of digital transformation in developed and developing countries is achieved through public administrationthe development of government programmes, national and local strategies, the plans and projects of a certain region. The current practices for strategic planning need a scientifically-based justification of development priorities and their overarching presence in a comprehensive system of strategic documents. The difficulty of developing digital transformation priorities arises from the ongoing research into Industry 4.0 concept deriving from the dynamically changing trends of digitalization, its diversity and complexity for the development of Russian regions. The prepared Russian documents fail to reflect the priority of universities in creating Industry 4.0, with a "digital university" being the only model in working out, implementing and using digital technologies in regional economies. Due to the incomplete Industry 4.0 concept and the urgency of the digital transformation of the economy, the paper is aimed at developing theoretical foundations of the «datadriven» economy. The research conducted by the authors involved the dialectic method, the methods of summarization, analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction. The study resulted in some certain suggestions on strategic priorities for the development of Russian regions in view of key digital technologies, the role of universities in their creation and implementation. The authors have shown that Industry 4.0 has a huge potential in setting priorities of digital economy and management at the level of regions.