The article reveals possible strategies for innovative and competitive development of lateral clusters of higher education and the creation of corporate formations on the ex-ample of Higher School – SPbGTI(TU) on the principles of synergy, in accordance with the requirements of consumers and the ef-fectiveness of the country's development; a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of sustainable strategic activities and innova-tive development of the lateral cluster in the region is proposed, taking into account the synergistic effect.