In the modern world, one of the key goals of developed countries is to achieve technological sovereignty, which is possible with effective state financial incentives for R&D.

   The purpose of the study is to assess the instruments of R&D state financial stimulation in the context of achieving technological sovereignty of a country, as well as to develop recommendations for their improvement.

   The assessment of global trends in the financial support of R&D, the dynamics of global expenditures on R&D, the ranking of countries in terms of R&D financing, and the main foreign and domestic financial instruments of state stimulation (grants, subsidies, venture financing, government guarantees, preferential lending, tax incentives, public procurement of R&D) have been analyzed. Recommendations have been offered (including on the basis of implementing the best foreign practices) on additional measures that can ensure achieving technological sovereignty through R&D financial support. The importance of R&D state financial stimulation in order to ensure technological sovereignty has been emphasized.

   A method related to improving the tools for evaluating the effectiveness of transport infrastructure, which makes it possible to adequately assess the economic effectiveness of various technical solutions, considering their life cycle and operating conditions, has been developed and tested. The research methodology is based on an economic analysis that includes a life cycle cost calculation. The indicators of capital expenditures, current expenses, risks, and service life of structures were used to compare the variants of technical solutions. The study results show that the proposed assessment method can be used in addition to or instead of the traditional approach and also allows for a comparison of technical solutions. It can be applied when designing new and reconstructing existing transport infrastructure facilities, in particular railway lines, and selecting optimal solutions for various operating conditions. The method is also applicable for evaluating innovative infrastructure solutions. The study prospects are related to the proposed approach integration into the general methodology for analyzing economically significant trends in transport (including railway) infrastructure development, as well as to complement the proposed method with sensitivity analysis of key parameters of the source data. The study highlights the importance of an integrated approach to assessing the effectiveness of transport infrastructure, considering both the economic and technical and operational parameters of infrastructure solutions.

   The most important component of national human capital reproduction is the higher education system, which has undergone radical reorganization over the past twenty years. The most acute issues have been highlighted, and the current trends in the higher education system development in modern conditions have been outlined. It has been suggested that the quality of human capital of scientific and pedagogical workers determines the labor resources quality of a country.

   The purpose of the study is an attempt to formulate a concept of a comprehensive approach to forming and developing human capital in higher education professors based on the analysis of existing theoretical and methodological approaches, scientific publications, comparative analysis of diverse information, as well as the current state of human resources potential of higher education institutions.

   Based on the formulated goal, the research tasks have been solved, including the study of theoretical and methodological basis, identificating key features of forming and developing human capital in higher education institutions, creating a mechanism of its formation and development, and determining indicators and indicators of the effectiveness of the current system. The authors’ mechanism of forming and developing human capital in higher education institutions has been proposed. Attention has been emphasized on the importance of ecosystem interaction for intellectual core development. The factors that increase or decrease human capital productivity have been highlighted.

   The infrastructural potential of regional innovation ecosystem is becoming a determining factor of economic growth and spatial technological development in the conditions of fierce interregional competition both within a country and at the international level. The implementation of smart regional specialization strategies, aimed at increasing the innovation susceptibility of territories, reducing innovation resistance, overcoming the rut effect, increasing the spatial absorption capacity of territories in the field of innovation, actualizes the task of finding optimal methodological tools for assessing the infrastructural potential of innovation ecosystems.

   The purpose of the study is to systematize theoretical models and methodological approaches to assessing the infrastructural potential of regional innovation ecosystem, identify issues, and determine the directions for improving the methodologies.

   The review of the methodologies for assessing the infrastructural potential has revealed their significant diversity: the results-based approach, considering transaction costs, the analysis of production functions and correlations, integral indices, the matrix method, and specialized indicators of digital transformation. Of particular value is the ecosystem paradigm, which considers the innovation infrastructure as an open system of interdependent agents that jointly generate, disseminate, and commercialize innovations on the basis of smart specialization. The key issues of modern methods have been identified: terminological ambiguity, abstractness, poor practical testing, insufficient consideration of integral effects, and qualitative characteristics of the infrastructural potential of regional innovation ecosystems. Promising directions for improving the methodology of assessing the infrastructural potential of regional innovation ecosystem have been identified: creating a unified terminological base, developing a comprehensive approach with the quantitative and qualitative methods integration, considering modern technological trends, and adapting advanced international practices to Russian conditions. The study results are of interest to federal, regional, and local authorities in the framework forming and implementing innovation policy and overcoming the territorial differentiation of regions with varying institutional density of innovation environment.

   Under the conditions of sanctions challenges, Russia’s aspiration to economic sovereignty, the need to fulfill the tasks of technological independence, the lack of a single concept of the regional scientific and technological potential definition, and the lack of a methodological approach to assessing regional scientific and technological potential effectiveness lead to difficulties and errors in regional policy development and, consequently, further development.

   The purpose of the study is to develop the authors’ methodology for assessing regional scientific and technological potential effectiveness.

   The methodological basis of the study was a comprehensive approach, including a number of methods such as analysis, synthesis, historical, and content analysis.

   The scientific novelty of the study consists in clarifying the regional scientific and technological potential concept, as well as in developing a system of indicators to assess its effectiveness and the authors’ methodology for this assessment.

   The regional scientific and technological potential definition as a set of human and other resources, infrastructural support, the best results in the sphere of regional scientific, innovative, technical, and technological activities, changing in territorial space and time in order to increase sustainable development, regional competitiveness and achievement of its strategic goals has been clarified. The system of indicators for assessing regional scientific and technological potential effectiveness has been organized into four groups: personnel support, resource support, infrastructural support, and regional scientific, technological, technical, and innovative activities. A step-by-step algorithm for implementing the authors’ methodology for calculating the regional scientific and technological potential efficiency index has been formed. The presented research is a necessary stage for setting and subsequent solution of national economic tasks such as assessing regional scientific and technological potential performance and forming regional policy of scientific and technological development.

   The factors and mechanisms of the dynamics of global economic growth at the present stage have been analyzed and summarized. Over the past decades, many determinants have increased uncertainty in the global economy development, affecting the decline in aggregate factor productivity through various channels.

   The purpose of the study is to assess the mechanisms of deceleration and divergence of global economic growth, which significantly limit sustainable social and economic development in the global economy, as well as to discuss scenarios and ways to prevent a slowdown in global growth.

   The challenges of this slowdown for the sustainability of the global economy have been discussed, and new growth trends that emerged in 2022-2024 have been systematized. An additional aspect of the study was the assessment of the negative risks of global economic growth in the future, related to the current concerns about ongoing inflation and recession. The mechanisms that determine the growth divergence and uncertainty have been identified, including using the example of the dynamics observed in individual countries and assessing economic policies implemented in these states (including in terms of countering inflation). Several scenarios of global economic growth for the medium term have been presented, suggesting the opportunities implementation to prevent a slowdown in growth. If growth slows down in the medium term, it will have a negative impact on income convergence between states, as it will become increasingly difficult for poor countries to catch up with rich ones. There are distributional consequences of a slowdown in growth in the medium term for global inequality and wellfare.

   The issues related to the problem of cross-border payments under sanctions restrictions have been considered. The forms of money which were used in different periods of time in settlements among states in conditions of restrictions have been studied. The issues of solving the problem of cross-border payments based on monetary unions conclusion among states have been studied. The activity of the monetary unions has been considered, and their certain typologisation has been conducted. The application of the effects of bimetallic, gold, and other standards in payment means when they are used in the cross-border payments has been studied. The reasons for the emergence and consequences of the application of the bimetallic and gold standards in monetary instruments in the interstate settlements have been analyzed. The possibility of using different forms of money in modern conditions in the cross-border payments under sanctions restrictions has been analysed. Commodity, cash, non-cash, and digital forms of money have been studied. In the analysis process, the existing restrictions on their application in the cross-border payments in conditions of sanctions restrictions have been revealed. The prospects for the use of digital money, including private and public ones, in these cross-border payments have been considered separately. Projects on the use of digital state money under sanctions restrictions have been studied. It has been concluded that their application is localised and that we need to search for other means of payment, which allow to some extent to circumvent the existing sanctions restrictions. For this purpose, it has been proposed to use decentralised payment means based on precious metals.

   A comprehensive analysis of the emerging dynamics associated with digital technologies integration into the framework of youth policy in Russia has been presented. Particular attention has been paid to the transformative impact of digitalization on youth engagement mechanisms, institutional governance, and youth participation in social and political processes. The significant growth in the use of the Internet by youth, accompanied by a pronounced transition in information content consumption from traditional broadcast media to digital platforms has been emphasized. It is noteworthy that about 65 % of young Russians nowadays mainly use Internet sources of news and social and political information. The processes of implementing digital governance tools into the structure of state youth policy have been considered. It includes developing and implementing online platforms and interactive services aimed at promoting civic integration, volunteerism, and constructive social dialog. Empirical data were used to study models and trajectories of youth involvement in socially significant volunteer initiatives, considering the interaction between digital infrastructure and political socialization. The study results confirm the hypothesis that the digital era has not only led to a revision of the implementing youth policy methods, but also accelerated the change in its strategic priorities. It requires constant institutional restructuring in accordance with the rapidly changing patterns of digital interaction and the new generation’s value orientations. The study results provide a conceptual and empirical basis for further development of an adaptive and future-oriented architecture of public youth policy that effectively responds to the digital environment requirements.