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On July 25, a four-day strategic session 'Strategic Priorities and New Opportunities for the Development of Innovative Clusters' was opened in Moscow. The event was organised by the Ministry of Economic Development, RVC JSC jointly with the Higher School of Economics. Representatives of government offices, leading universities, scientific organisations and enterprises involved in the activities of the clusters discussed new challenges and directions of development in the format of strategic sessions. A cross-cutting theme, the digitalisation, was examined in light of the federal priorities, best regional practices and common problems.

An expert in science, technology and innovation is a person who provides scientists and engineers with economic, legal, sociological and managerial knowledge in innovative, entrepreneurial teams. These specialists are already in high demand in such organisations as Russian Venture Company, Innovation Promotion Fund, OECD and World Bank; and the demand for them will grow. These specialists are trained at the Master’s Programme 'Governance of Science, Technology and Innovation' of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

While the degree of pessimism of elderly consumers continues to decline, the optimism of young people has declined for the first time in the last 2.5 years. Almost a quarter of the population is still dissatisfied with their financial situation; income of half of the families do not allow them to make large purchases. HSE ISSEK Centre for Business Tendencies Studies studied expectations of Russian consumers in the II quarter of 2018. Director of the Centre for Business Tendencies Studies Georgy Ostapkovich spoke about the projections that resulted from the observations.

On 10 July, the Global Innovation Index 2018 was published. In the new ranking, Russia holds the 46^th place out of 126, while Moscow made it into the top 30 of the world’s most innovative cities. In his Rusbase column Evgeniy Kutsenko, head of the HSE ISSEK Russian Cluster Observatory, commented on the factors which have contributed to the capital city’s impressive success.

'National Report on Innovation in Russia' is published, for the third year in a row prepared by the Russian Venture Company (RVC), the RF Ministry of Economic Development, and the RF Government’s Expert Council. Experts from the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge also contributed to producing the report. They suggested a number of advanced research methodologies and new indicators for measuring innovation development in the country. The indicator panel applied in the new report comprises 108 positions.

The pocket data book contains main indicators characterising trends in the development of general, secondary vocational and higher education in the Russian Federation. It also covers key education indicators for the OECD countries. 

At the beginning of June, the Skolkovo Innovation Centre hosted the 4^th International Congress REENCON. Liliana Proskuryakova, Leading Researcher at the ISSEK Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies, presented the report 'Renewable Energy 2030: Global Challenges and Long-Term Innovation Development Trends'.

The Organising Committee of the Enlightener 2018 Award has published a long list of 24 books, each of which has a chance to become the best popular science book of the new season. Among other titles, the long list includes 'Atlas of Future Technologies' which presents results of the Global Technology Trends Monitoring study. This ongoing project is being implemented by the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) for more than five years. The award winners will be announced in the early October.