Research on the socio-economic processes in the North of Russia

The paper highlights the history of the economic science at the Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, its gradual enrichment with theoretical and methodological developments aimed at identifying the development patterns of the Russian North. The problem-solving approach is typical of any field-specific research areas of the institute as the socio-demographic, natural resource, energy-economic, transport, financial-economic, and regional-integrated areas. The most difficult problems are the optimization of population size and the choice of settlement systems in conditions of extreme and complex climates, the capitalization of natural resources taking into account their geosystem characteristics, the formation of linear and nodal infrastructure, and the establishment of equivalent financial relations between enterprises, regions and the country as a whole. Their solution is largely related to the formation of integral spaces of socio-economic activity and ways of including northern and Arctic territories into them. Academic science plays a significant role in the development of the Russian North. By the experience of the Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the effect of integrating scientific knowledge, including socio-economic knowledge, can be enhanced if the solution to complex problems is based on “cross-cutting” research programs.