Cluster Policy in Russia: From Theory to Practice

An extensive development of industrial clusters in numerous regions worldwide is determined by wide opportunities for economic growth and a series of positive ripple effects. According to international practice, developing a cluster strategy is an important step towards building a full-fledged innovation policy toolkit; moreover it gives evidence of a well thought out long-term approach by government to overall development of territories and economic sectors. At present the Russian government has moved from conceptual frameworks to implementation of specific cluster initiatives. However using tools that have originated abroad in the Russian context requires a thorough analysis of intrinsic barriers reducing the efficiency of innovation development programmes. Direct borrowing of institutions and mechanisms from practices of leading countries rarely leads to desired outcomes. While using even advanced policy tools it is important to take into account specifics of the target environment, pay a special attention to details, not only to general frameworks and principles of incorporated institutes. The main aim of this paper is to find and rationalize key success factors for the emerging national system of supporting regional clusters. To that end it compares the best international practices and specifics of implementing cluster policy in Russia.