Digital Maturity Assessment and the Impact of Its Level on the Regional Economy Based on Materials from the Republic of Dagestan

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved new criteria for assessing the governors’ work effectiveness (2021). One of the rating indicators is “Digital maturity” of state authorities of the Russian Federation constituent entities, local government bodies and organizations, namely, their ability to make use of domestic information and technology solutions. The heads of the constituent entities are responsible for the digital transformation in the regions of the Russian Federation; they are their KPIs — key performance indicators. The region’s economy transformation into a digital one is impossible without the participation of municipalities. However, the problem the digital maturity level assessment of local governments and executive authorities at the regional level has not been properly investigated. The methodology for compiling and assessing the digital maturity index of local self-government bodies is presented in the article on the materials of the federal statistical observation form No. 3-inform “Information on the use of digital technologies and the production of the related goods and providing of services” in the Republic of Dagestan in 2019. On the basis of which the sub-indices “digital infrastructure,” “digital security,” “digital technologies,” and “digital skills” were calculated. The ratings of digital maturity of local government bodies and the executive branch of the government of the region, as well as the comparative analysis of the index structure, are presented in the article. It was revealed that the average digital maturity indices for local self-government and executive authorities are practically the same. In addition, the digital infrastructure sub index makes up a large share, namely, about half in the digital maturity indices. An econometric model has been built to assess the dependence of the regional economy on the digital maturity level. Thus, the key socio-economic indicators were taken into account to assess the effectiveness of local self-government body activities in urban and municipal districts.