The Impact of Innovative Industrial Cluster Policy on Regional Innovation: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

As important carriers of local innovation activities, innovative industrial clusters are attracting increasing attention. Therefore, several countries have started promotion policies for innovative industrial clusters. However, there are few empirical studies on relevant policies. This paper investigates the impact of China’s “innovative industrial cluster pilot” (IICP) policy on regional innovation. Taking the implementation of IICP policy as a quasi-natural experiment and using the panel data of 266 prefecture-level cities in China in 2008-2019, this paper provides strong evidence that IICP policy promotes regional innovation. The conclusion still holds after a battery of robustness checks. The heterogeneity test shows that the promoting effect of IICP policy on innovation is more significant in central and western region than in eastern region. Moreover, the lower the city administrative level and the lower the dependence on natural resource, the more prominent the innovation effect of IICP policy. Further, the mechanism test shows that the IICP policy can promote regional innovation indirectly by strengthening government support for innovation and attracting the agglomeration of science and technological talents, but the mediation effect of industrial structure has not been verified.

DESIGNING CHANGES IN SECONDARY VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE REGION: CLUSTER APPROACH

Показаны современные направления развития системы среднего профессионального образования (СПО) в России. Обозначены особенности СПО Томской области и стратегические цели его преобразования в контексте их взаимосвязи с приоритетами социально-экономического развития региона. Представлено экспертно-теоретическое обоснование целесообразности использования кластерного подхода для развития региональных систем СПО. Аргументированы необходимость и продуктивность управления изменениями в региональной системе СПО средствами кластерной политики. Предложено проектное видение нового дизайна инфраструктуры СПО Томской области в логике кластерной политики. Доказательно заданы базовые характеристики кластеров двух видов: образовательного и образовательно-отраслевого, приведены научно обоснованные гипотезы о закономерностях их эффективного функционирования. Обоснованы проектные предложения, отражающие организационно-педагогические механизмы интеграции практик СПО и непрерывной профессионализации действующих кадров реального сектора экономики в кластерном формате. Обозначены способы такой интеграции. Предложено экспертное авторское видение условий реализации образовательного потенциала взаимодействия субъектов, включенных в кластерно-отраслевые сообщества. Обобщен имеющийся практический опыт, отражающий проектирование изменений в управлении развитием СПО на основе кластерного подхода в Томской области. Спрогнозированы социально-экономические и образовательные перспективы кластерно-сетевого взаимодействия в региональной практике СПО для решения актуальных и перспективных задач его развития на региональном уровне. Материалы статьи основаны на результатах образовательного проектирования и подготовлены при использовании исследовательских методов теоретического анализа, опроса, экспертного метода. The article discusses modern trends in Russia’s secondary vocational education (SPE) system development. Features of SPE in the Tomsk Region and strategic objectives of its transformation as opposed to their relationship with the priorities of the region’s socioeconomic advancement are outlined. An expert-theoretical justification of the expediency in using the cluster approach for the SPE regional system development is presented. Necessity and productivity in the SPE regional system change management by means of cluster policy are argued. A project vision of Tomsk Region’s SPO new infrastructure design in the logic of cluster policy is proposed. Basic characteristics of the clusters’ two types are educational and educational-industrial; scientifically substantiated hypotheses on the regularities of their effective functioning are proved. Project proposals reflecting organizational and pedagogical mechanisms of SPE practice integration and continuous professionalization of the current economy’s real sector personnel in a cluster format are substantiated. Paths of such integration are outlined. The authors’ expert vision of conditions for implementing educational potential in the interaction between the subjects included in the cluster-branch communities is offered. The current practical experience reflecting the design of changes in the SPO development management on the basis of cluster approach in the Tomsk Region is generalized. Socio-economic and educational prospects of cluster-network interaction in the SPO regional practice for solving urgent and prospective problems of its development at the regional level are predicted. Materials of the article are based on the results of educational design and prepared using research methods of theoretical analysis, survey, and the expert method.

Cluster-cooperative project-the basis of rational use of forest food resources in the Amur region

The Amur region has a significant potential for non-wood plant resources: food, medicine, feed, and technology. The northern regions have a territorial advantage in the potential of forest production, where there is a low and average level of agricultural production against the background of a fairly high level of unemployment among the working-age population. Taking into account the cluster policy of the region in the implementation of the designed portfolio of pilot cluster projects, a cluster-cooperative project for the development of an agricultural consumer cooperative for the production, processing and marketing of berries, aimed at the production and production of a wide range of products using wild plants, the formation of a competitive level of price and quality that meets the demand and requirements of customers of export (international) markets, was developed. Through cooperation and integration of personal subsidiary farms within the framework of the project, it is planned to create a single logistics center of the cluster for managing commodity flows of products, ensuring product quality, and organizing certification of products for export. The project is fully integrated into the structure of the organizational and functional mechanism of the agro-industrial cluster of the Amur region, providing support for the project at all stages from the initial stage of project formation to the release of products for export. It is assumed that the implementation of the developed cluster-cooperative project will form the basis for the rational use of non-wood forest resources in the region and will serve not only as a source of income for the local population, the consolidation of permanent personnel in forestry, the development of small and medium-sized businesses, and will also contribute to increasing the productivity of forest plantations.

EFFECTIVE REGIONAL CLUSTER: SIGNS, CONDITIONS AND CRITERIA FOR THE FORMATION

Статья посвящена обоснованию методологических подходов к исследованию процессов кластеризации в экономической политике регионов. Поставлена цель выявления условий формирования эффективных кластеров в целях появления позитивных изменений в экономических результатах их деятельности, возникающих за счет появляющихся в кластере синергетических эффектов. Установлена взаимосвязь эффектов с комплексом типовых признаков кластера. Предложен критерий формирования эффективного кластера: максимальный уровень стоимости создаваемого кластерного образования при разных вариантах состава, структуры и условий взаимодействия участников кластера между собой и инициирующими, и координирующими это взаимодействие органами государственного управления. По мнению авторов, это позволит повысить успешность проведения региональной кластерной политики. The article is devoted to the creation of methodological foundations of clustering processes in the economic policy of the regions. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the conditions for the formation of effective clusters for the purpose of positive changes in the economic results of activities that arise due to the synergistic effects that appear in the cluster. The relationship between the effects and the complex of typical features of the cluster is established. The criterion for the formation of an effective cluster is proposed as the maximum level of the cost of the created cluster formation with different variants of the composition, structure and conditions of interaction between the cluster participants and the initiating and coordinating public administration bodies, which will increase the success of the regional cluster policy.

Place of Clusters and Cluster Policy in the Economic Policy in Germany and Poland

In the global economy, more and more emphasis is placed on cooperation between various entities. Networking has become the basis for understanding the international business, in which enterprises achieve better results being a part of a more extensive network covering an increasing number of countries.

The unused potential of process tracing as evaluation approach: The case of cluster policy evaluation

This article shows that process tracing developed in social science research can be used in evaluations of complex structural and technology policy programmes to overcome deficits in the methodological instruments used to date. Cluster policies are a well-suited example because they are characterized by complex impact patterns like many other current structural and innovation policy programmes. The origin and characteristics of the methodological approach of process tracing are discussed and weaknesses of impact evaluations of cluster programmes highlighted. Subsequently, we look at the potentials of process tracing in impact evaluations of cluster programmes within the framework of mixed-method designs. Our analysis shows that process tracing can enrich the applied methodological repertoire. It allows the evaluators to test the accuracy of the theoretical assumptions underlying the analysed programme and to identify causal mechanisms.