TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF REGIONS AS A TOOL FOR INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF TERRITORIES THROUGH THE STRATEGY OF TECHNOLOGICAL ARBITRAGE (CATCHING-UP STRATEGY)

The article is devoted to the problem of increasing the competitiveness of regions through the application of the technology arbitrage strategy at the macro-regional level. The paper explores the possibilities of applying the imitation strategy for follower regions in terms of the degree of efficiency in the use of resources. Strategies based on the technology leadership paradigm can be seen as more efficient combinations of resources that are clearly superior to available alternatives and include a concentration of human capital; leadership in technology markets; establishment and generation of knowledge and their implementation. These deve-lopment strategies are suitable for megacities because they require intensive interaction and institutional support between various actors such as firms, universities, research and innovation centers and governments, in addition, they are magnets for attracting quality human capital. Peripheral regions are considered less innovative and tend to have less patents and investment in R&D, leading to a focus on process and catch-up innovation and hence the need for their own development strategy. The article develops and illustrates a methodology based on the analysis of the operating environment and other methods that can be used to cla-rify the regional strategy. Various types of regional innovations are analyzed based on a longitudinal analysis of the regions of the Siberian Federal District of the Russian Federation over a ten-year period. This approach made it possible to analyze the effectiveness of the use of basic economic resources (labor-capital) at the regional level, singled out a model for the development of regions through innovation or through technological arbitrage. As a result of applying the Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist productivity index methods, the leading regions were identified in terms of the efficiency of using different types of resources. This made it possible to cluster regions according to different types of leadership and identify regions for which an imitation strategy is recommended, depending on their proximity to the technological frontier.