Since April, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin has been actively promoting an idea of setting up an innovative industrial megacluster.
The idea was supported by the Russian president, the ministries of economic development and of industry and trade. A draft presidential executive order on such an innovative industrial cluster has been approved by all respective agencies.
Apart from designing a legal format of the said megacluster, it has to be given some specific substance. By next autumn (or by September 9, the date of Moscow mayor election, to be exact), its concept must be drafted by the Higher School of Economics National University. The concept designers take notice of China’s Zhongguancun Science Park which houses 20K hi-tech companies with an aggregate staff of 600K.
Moscow authorities plan to create a virtual cluster. A special IT platform will be developed (it is the government’s undertaking), where all its participants can see their prospect partners, find out all about their machinery and products, and also get instruments for business processes automation and funding via grants and venture financing.
A number of expert panels involving business, innovative and research communities’ representatives took place in August.
According to Konstantin Ordov, professor of Finance Management chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, from among over a hundred clusters, clear leaders capable of coming up with world quality and standard products have established themselves recently.
“It’s evidently feasible to scale the examples of those pioneers up, yet it can not be done manually since the pace is too high. In that regard, innovative industrial cluster (or rather a platform for ideas promotion) should to a substantial degree eliminate obstacles for a private business willing to join government program. Nowadays such clusters’ annual output is worth over RUR 2 trillion ($30.3 billion)”, Konstantin Ordov notes.
Russia claims to be a leader in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Digitalization and implementation of new innovative technologies in industry and state management play major parts here.
“The example of Moscow is a good illustration. There are over 20,000 companies in Moscow, 752 research and development organizations, more than 12,000 IT companies, 1,200 large hi-tech enterprises, 300-something small innovative companies at Moscow universities, 134 coworkings, etc. So if that huge resource is fully engaged and converted into a logical system, growth rates will be observed on an absolutely different scale”, Alexander Borodich, venture investor, entrepreneur and CEO at Universa Blockchain, says.
Nevertheless, the expert community while supporting the idea in general, suggests to clearly state the moment when an innovation cycle starts, whether since a fundamental research is launched or since an innovation is incorporated in a current technology chain. That decision is of a prime importance for the fundamental science representatives and for promoting trends for researchers’ developments to be able to meet the demand.
By Anna Oreshkina