THE ROLE OF INNOVATION CLUSTERS IN SUPPORTING REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

This article examines how innovation clusters can act as a “mechanism for assembling” regional growth: not as a union of organizations in a single territory, but as a system that reduces cooperation costs, accelerates technology diffusion, and creates sustainable demand for skills and investment. The focus is on the applied issue of regional policy: which properties of a cluster (connectivity density, anchor companies, testing and R&D infrastructure, access to financing, export channels, management quality) transform it into a source of long-term impact, while which remain in the status of formal “clustering.” The methodological approach utilizes a comparative analysis of approaches to cluster policy and the construction of a “support instrument — expected result — indicator — risk” matrix, which allows for the assessment of cluster effectiveness not by the number of participants and events, but by measurable outcomes: productivity, employment in high-productivity sectors, innovation activity, growth of value chains and the regional tax base [1]. The practical result of the study is a set of criteria for the selection and support of clusters for different types of regions of the Russian Federation (industrial, resource, agglomeration, peripheral) and recommendations for adjusting support measures taking into account management constraints and the risks of “rent-capture” [2].