Socio-economic development of the southern Russia regions in the Industry 4.0: achievements, problems, priorities

The article provides the comparative analysis of the current positions of the regional economic systems of the Southern Federal District (SFD) under the first phase of the fourth industrial revolution in Russia in the following key aspects: socio-economic situation, level of scientific, technological and innovative development, and digital transformation. The broad empirical basis of the study involves the reports of the European Commission, the World Economic Forum, the International Institute for Management Development, the World Intellectual Property Organization, official data from the Rosstat, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, the specialized studies of Russian and foreign analytical companies, research divisions of the Higher School of Economics, the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, the Leontief Center - AV Group Consortium, specialized associations, public organizations, which are summarized in the ranking tables with their subsequent analytical interpretation. The research concluded that, in line with the global trends, achieving high competitiveness by the SFD leading regions and keeping their advanced socio-economic position is supported by their advanced scientific, technological and innovative development, high level of digitalization in all spheres of life, broad application of information and communication technologies by households and organizations, and development of digital skills. In this regard, the author substantiates the necessity of forming a complementary system of human, material and natural, technical and technological, institutional, organizational and informational factors in all the SFD regions to provide the regional economy development in the context of the Industry 4.0 priorities.