The cost for supporting of innovation activities at the regional level in Russia is growing. But there is a strong differentiation between the regions in their results of innovation. One of the indicators is patents. In this paper, factors affecting patent activity were investigated, using the production function of knowledge (PFK). The main hypothesis was that the patent activity in Russia could not be modelled, because many patents does not have any commercial value. The econometric analysis shows that it is possible to highlight some of the major factorsб such as human capital, the costs of research, etc. In Russia, human capital is much more important factor of patent activity than abroad.