Clustering of the Economy as a Means of Developing an Innovation Infrastructure

The experience of the functioning of national innovation systems in the developed countries indicates that the development of an innovative model of the national economy is impossible without the formation of an active innovation infrastructure. The article deals with the problems of formation and development of the innovation infrastructure of the country in difficult social and economic conditions based on clustering of the economy. The purpose of the research is to analyze the role and impact of clusters on self-organization and self-development of the country’s innovation infrastructure in the conditions of limited financial resources. The research investigates the tendencies of the spread of regional clustering and its influence on the creation of a network of infrastructure companies, which, on a commercial basis, offer and distribute services. Clustering of regions is accompanied by the spread of the impact of a growing number of clusters (innovation structures of the network type) on the national economy and its innovation infrastructure. A certain infrastructural environment develops around the hub and the core of the cluster. It includes a number of companies specializing in innovative services, which can offer their services on a commercial basis not only to companies in this cluster, but also to all nearby innovative enterprises. The spread of clustering in all regions can serve as a basis for further self-organization and self-development of subsidiary companies under the influence of market mechanisms of management and growth of the innovation infrastructure of clusters into a basic platform of the innovation infrastructure of the country. Activation of entrepreneurship in clusters is carried out through the concentration of business activity and inter-sectoral cooperation. Vertical cluster associations are formed based on the synergy of enterprises, institutions, organizations, and individuals that are heterogeneous in the field of activity and form of ownership. The state, creating a favorable innovation environment, regulates the boundary conditions for innovation infrastructure subjects and clusters, which independently self-organize themselves under the influence of market mechanisms and expand their services to all regions, forming a holistic innovation infrastructure of the country.