This paper examines a new approach to defining digital ecosystems. Within the digital economy of ecosystems, competition is eliminated, and organizations form unions and alliances in order to work together and cooperate to reach a set goal. This means a digital ecosystem can be viewed as a complex environment in which organizations without any hard ties operate. Digital ecosystems differ from traditional ecosystems in many ways. The business organization of the latter is based on management decision making by people. This paper presents theoretical foundations for developing digital ecosystems based on a literary review. Based on the logic of scientific search using the keywords “ecosystem” and “biological ecosystem”, the commonality of the properties of the digital ecosystem and the biological ecosystem is shown. The aim of the study is to identify common characteristics in biological, economic and digital ecosystems in order to substantiate the possibility of using the same approaches for research and modeling of such systems. A definition of a digital ecosystem is proposed by the authors which points out the main features of this kind of system and highlights the dominant role of modern digital technologies in the formation of the digital ecosystem. The paper looks at the distinctive features of digital ecosystems and characteristics similar to the characteristics of biological ecosystems, such as ecosystem participants, presence of limiting impacts, lack of vertical hierarchical communication. The developed model can be used to model digital ecosystems. The authors believe that the emergence of a trend in the transformation of ecosystems in the direction of expanding the collaboration of economic agents is reasonable. At the same time, digitalization helps to replace competition with collaboration. The paper finishes with a discussion of the obtained results and a plan for further research.

Innovations are a continuous process so the issues related to life cycle management of a retail enterprise are relevant. Effective management of enterprise life cycle allows reducing risks and decreasing the degree of uncertainty of its innovation activity. To describe the innovations life cycle the authors used Verhulst equation according to which the logistic function determines the innovations life cycle as a sigmoid – s-shaped curve. The method suggested by the authors determines the correlation interaction between determination of the moment when the innovation is introduced into retail enterprise activity and the innovation ageing period. The article substantiates that it is reasonable to use sales volume as a factor of effect from introduction of innovation in retail enterprise. Such factors as profit, efficiency, consumer traffic or mean receipt sum can be used as well. The novelty of the author approach is that it contains the interaction between life cycle stages of retail network and innovation introduction moments which enables to estimate the effectiveness of innovations in the enterprise. The information provided by such analysis will enable the management to elaborate a competent and effective development strategy of the company and in such a way increase its competitiveness.

The paper is devoted to topical issues of urban planning in relation to megacities. We consider this issue taking into account the limitations of natural, communal, and social resources. The problem is especially acute for the overwhelming majority of the state capitals, as well as cities with historical heritage that are of great interest due to the rapid development of tourism and the high mobility of the population in the world. The authors formalize the problem of determining the optimal ratio of the volume of urban buildings intended for non-residents to the total housing stock. We conduct economic calculations to determine the quantitative indicators that can be used as the basis for administrative measures aimed at limiting the flow of people arriving with the intention of temporarily deploying in megacities.

The article discusses the prospects of creating vertical farms as a modern eco-friendly solution to increase the productivity of the agro-industrial complex. Throughout the work, the authors justify the need to switch from the old model of food security to a new one, which is based on innovative agricultural technologies. In particular, the nature of vertical farms, their organization models, as well as their relevance for the “smart city” concept are considered. The paper discusses the ecosystem of vertical farms and the role of various stakeholders. The importance of vertical farms for digital transformation of agriculture is demonstrated.

The article examines the role of the tourism industry in creating new jobs in the regions and increasing the welfare of the population. The multiplicative effect of the tourism industry is expressed in the active development of related sectors of the national economy. The spillover effect of tourism spending on the region’s economy can be estimated using an “input-output” model. The paper provides an algorithm for determining the impact of changes in tourism spending on gross output by industry, income and employment in the region. Studies have shown that the development of tourism in St. Petersburg leads to an uneven formation of output, income and employment in various sectors of the region’s economy. The development of the concept of sustainable tourism development should be based on an assessment of the socio-economic state and prospects for the development of the tourism industry. The methodology, which includes an assessment of the resource and throughput potential, is most fully consistent with the principles of the concept of sustainable tourism development. Application of the World Bank methodology for the development of the adjusted net savings index. It allows you to internalize the external costs of economic activity associated with negative impacts on ecosystems and public health, which are an underestimated value in models of sustainable tourism development. The combination of this methodology with traditional multifactor models for assessing the level of tourism development will allow a more targeted approach to the choice of mechanisms and objects of state regulation at the regional levels within the framework of indicative planning.