Journal of the National Research University Higher School of Economics

Leading countries consider regional clusters an efficient tool of interaction between actors of a regional innovation system, which enables new poles of economic growth to be formed. There is a large literature describing the positive experience of public support for clusters. In Russia, this process is still at an early stage. Russia’s strategy of innovative development up to 2020 includes a programme for supporting pilot innovative regional clusters.

The aim is to make these clusters self-sustainable. The emergence and outlook of a cluster largely depend on a range of basic conditions such as: the urban environment; an available critical mass of specialized companies; internal competition; and openness to the outside world. There is always a risk that without government support, the cluster will not be able to shift to the desired trajectory.

The paper reviews existing studies on the best practices of implementing state cluster policy in different parts of the world. It provides a detailed analysis of the characteristic features of successful clusters, and evaluates the extent to which Russia’s pilot innovative regional clusters match these criteria of success. It also quantitatively compares domestic and foreign clusters, and suggests a model for sustainable cluster development.

The study is based on an empirical analysis of the development programmes of pilot innovative regional clusters that were submitted to the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia in 2012 as part of a special competition. The paper also analyses the results of a survey commissioned by the joint stock company ‘Russian Venture Company’ at the end of 2013.