range of possibilities offered by an innovative economy is not used and regional systems are having problems integrating into the global economy. These reasons are holding back the transformative processes in the regional economy. Regional Systems of Russia are characterized by high variability, but this fact is also underestimated. Modern imperatives of social development and regional identity dictate the need for new kinds of typological descriptions of the regions. Methods: The author examined the evidence of whether transitioning to new forms of typological ranking of regions was well founded, which would take into account the previous positive experience in identifying these types of regions and would be relevant towards the content of modern challenges of regional development, the formation of subordinate objectives of an innovation economy. A comparative analysis of the typologies allowed us to determine their dominant signs and obstacles as to their further use. The analysis was carried out in parallel with the typologies of evolutionary changes in socio-economic development of the regions, which showed that the typological ranking should have adaptive characteristics. Results: The emergence of new ways to describe the typological characteristics of the regions is defined by the change of regional policy and the difference between the concepts of development. Changing concepts of regional development and the dominant factors of polarization requires that the factors take into account the typology of an innovation economy. The objectives of an innovative economic development are not commensurate with the regional asymmetry which is both limiting and enabling conditions for further developing the regions. As one of the possible methods, a multi-level system of regional management can be suggested. This should take into account the current types of typological rankings of the regions. Discussion: The prospects for studying the problem of improving the methodology of regional management are associated with an interdisciplinary approach to its planning, that develops synthetic principles of socio-economic and spatial components. The prospects of research are associated with developing the principles of the synthesis of socio-economic and spatial components of the regional development planning.