Yerkezhan Moldakenova

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Innovative and effective territorial development drives the country’s economic growth and its ability to compete on the world stage. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effectiveness of regional innovative development and to use cluster analysis to identify typological groups of regions and pinpoint priority points of innovative growth. The study’s statistical database consists of official data from the Bureau of Statistics of Kazakhstan for the period 2003–2024. The study used econometric methods such as panel regression, stochastic, and cluster analysis. The results demonstrate that the innovative development of the regions of Kazakhstan is positively influenced by the human resource factor (β = 1.131, p < 0.001) and socio-economic development (β = 1.894, p < 0.001), and negatively influenced by the level of R&D costs (β = –0.473, p = 0.016). The results of the SFA analysis showed that regions with industrial specialization have the most effective innovative development (Pavlodar TE = 0.764, Kostanay TE = 0.751) in the production of innovative products, and that growth may be driven by investments in fixed assets (SFA (β =1.565, p < 0.001)). Cluster analysis showed that сluster 1 is characterized by a high level of commercialization, whereas сluster 4 demonstrates a high level of innovation activity; cluster 2 has a high level of knowledge intensity and return on science; cluster 3 has a good technological base. The results showed that a high level of financing does not always lead to breakthrough innovation.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The cost of sending remittances remains above the 3% target of Sustainable Development Goal 10.c.1 even as digital technologies reshape cross-border payments. This study asks which dimension of the digital transformation of remittance markets is associated with lower costs and whether the association survives provider identity. Using the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide database (202,851 quotations, 372 corridors, 2016–2025), the study estimates fixed-effects models at the quotation and corridor-year levels with corridor × quarter and provider fixed effects. Three findings emerge. At the market level, corridors shifting toward instant settlement record lower costs (b = −1.12 percentage points, so a 10-point higher instant share corresponds to about 0.11 points), an association that runs through incumbent cash prices, survives stable provider sets, and is concentrated after 2022. At the quotation level, the instant discount (−0.44) reflects provider composition. Money transfer operators supply 94% of instant quotations at half the mean price of banks; within providers, speed carries a premium that eroded from 1.5 points in 2016 to −0.9 in 2025. What providers price lower is digital delivery (−0.9); mobile money is cheapest throughout (−2.85). The discount holds across developing destinations and reverses in high-income ones. Ukraine, Armenia, and Kazakhstan illustrate these margins at different adoption stages, where each point saved supports household resilience, economic security, and human capital. The results support faster end-to-end settlement, complemented by provider presence in low-income corridors, as the margins associated with lower remittance costs.