Learning Innovations Through Exploration and Exploitation in Russian Regions: A Nonlinear Panel Data Interaction Model

When implementing innovations, firms are faced with the need to make a choice between relatively inexpensive, but short-term in effect duration, or more expensive, but promising long-term benefits, projects. The first option of innovation learning is based on the use of existing technologies – usually in the form of ready-made technical solutions – while the second involves conducting its own research and development. The baseline and joint effects of exploitation and exploration of technologies as ways of learning innovation are not obvious, and therefore are the focus of numerous studies. The study presents estimates of the comparative effects of technology exploitation and exploration as factors of innovation activity changes in the economy of Russian regions in 2010–2022. A feature of the methodology used, taking into account the methodological limitations of official statistics, is the assessment of nonlinear and joint effects of exploitation and exploration, which makes them comparable with the world experience in studying such effects. The results of the study indicate the limited applicability of the innovation learning model through exploitation and exploration in modern Russia. It is established that such a model is not applicable to the top 20 regions in terms of innovative development. Within the 60 least developed regions, the effects of exploitation and exploration are dispersed in space. Linear exploitation costs increase the innovative activity of enterprises in the Southern Federal District, and linear exploration costs increase the enterprises of the Central Federal District. Quadratic exploitation costs, on the contrary, suppress innovation activity in the Southern Federal District, and quadratic exploration costs in the Far Eastern Federal District. The joint (synergistic) impact of exploitation and exploration has been recorded in the regions of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. The results obtained make it possible to complement the world experience in studying innovation learning processes, taking into account the specifics of implementing innovation processes in Russian regions