Forming a polycentric ecosystem to bring together of Russian and foreign stakeholders to develop of Far Eastern regions

Abstract In this paper, we investigated the joint efforts of Russian and foreign stakeholders to develop the regions of the Russian Far East. The competitive advantages of Russia’s border regions have been identified. Ways of enhancing competitive advantages are considered. The shortcomings of state support for regional development due to insufficient inter-sectoral and inter-regional coordination are noted. This study proposes an ecosystem approach as a mechanism to address this shortcoming. A polycentric ecosystem is a mechanism for equitable stakeholder integration. The hypothesis of this study is that economic and non-economic stakeholder interests, that are involved in launching and implementing projects as part of a development strategy underpin economic space development. We have considered how the barrier and contact functions of borders affect regional development. It has been shown that the methodology for studying stakeholder engagement in the region’s ecosystem is based on a quantitative-qualitative approach and identifies the benefits and challenges of both regions and projects. It reveals favourable and unfavourable factors influencing the integration of stakeholders in ecosystems. The prerequisites for stakeholder integration into a unified ecosystem are identified, and the main directions of integrated transport policy of the regions are considered.