Econometric estimation of the Influence of Innovative environment on the sustainable development in the Volga Federal District

In conditions of the emerging economy of a new type, the process of innovation becomes a crucial factor that ensures competitiveness and sustainable development in a wide range of fields. The latter includes scientific and technological sectors as well as the spheres of management and social transformation. Sustainable economic development sets sharp growth as its objective alongside the innovative capacity building and its later realization, bringing local and national economies in line with the market standards, and the improvement of performance through the introduction of innovations. The paper identifies and quantifies the most important factors of an innovative environment that affect sustainable development in the regions of the Volga Federal District [VFD]. We used the research methods of correlation and regression analysis. The established concept of the positive effects of innovative factors on the development of regions receives further confirmation and complementation from regression models for separate regions and the VFD in general compiled by us. Upon assessing the influence of innovations on the gross regional product in the regions of the VFD, we identified the introduction of advanced industrial technologies to the subjects of the VFD as the most influential factor. The research results can be implemented into the development of regional strategies for innovative development and its prognosis