Innovation Supercluster to Appear in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 672 on November 26 “On the creation of an innovation cluster in Moscow,” thus putting in motion an initiative of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin that the Higher School of Economics had played an active role in developing. Throughout the past year, HSE specialists studied the best practices of the world’s innovative megacities, worked with the Moscow government to hold a series of expert discussions on the principles of forming an innovation supercluster, and developed a draft concept establishing guidelines for interactions between potential cluster participants. Over time, the planned supercluster has the potential to embrace Moscow’s entire advanced-technology economy.
Foresight as a Dialogue about the Future Should be as Broad as Possible
The annual meeting of the International Advisory Council of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge took place on 14 November. This year the Council convened before the “Foresight and STI Policy” conference, so discussions of the ISSEK’s 2018 results, its plans for the next year, and approaches and techniques for studying and foreseeing S&T development occasionally overlapped with the conference agenda. The debates highlighted major trends which could affect relevant policies in the coming years.
Supporting Innovative Clusters: the Evolution of Formats
On the third day of the VII Open Innovations Forum Evgeny Kutsenko, Head of the HSE ISSEK Russian Cluster Observatory took part in two panel discussions. The first one focused on new tools for providing support to innovative clusters – world-class investment appeal leaders, while the second was devoted to Moscow’s prospects of becoming a global innovation centre by concentrating its creative and production potential around an innovative cluster.
The World of Innovation: from Indicators to Policies
One of the round table discussions at the VII Open Innovation Forum (15-17 October, Skolkovo) focused on using various indices and rankings to adjust goals and objectives, and assess effectiveness of innovation policies. HSE ISSEK members Vitaly Roud and Evgeny Kutsenko took part in the debates, speaking about applying the Global Innovation Index and the ISSEK-maintained Russian Regional Innovation Development Ranking in management practices on the regional and city levels.
Knowledge of Foreign Languages by Russian Scientists
The HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge conducted a survey of more than 2 thousand Russian doctorate holders, in order to assess the situation with foreign language skills among highly qualified scientific personnel.
Growth Points in the Agro-industrial Sector: Doubling Export Volumes, Deepening Processing, Smart Specialisation and Packaging
In the next seven years, Russian farmers should reach export volumes twice as high as current figures. Opportunities and directions for the advanced development of regional exports of agricultural products were discussed by the participants in the panel discussion held on October 12 in the framework of the business programme of the ХХ Russian Agro-industrial exhibition 'Golden Autumn'. Alexander Chulok, director of the Centre for Science and Technology Foresight of ISSEK, acted as moderator of the event organised by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia jointly with the ISSEK HSE.
Alexander Chulok Made a Presentation at the 2nd Climate Forum of Russian Cities
On 6–7 September, the Moscow City Government Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection hosted the 2nd Climate Forum of Russian Cities. Alexander Chulok, Director of the HSE ISSEK Centre for Science and Technology Foresight, took part in the panel session 9 'Present-Day Science: Digest of the Global Research'. He made the presentation 'Mapping the Global S&T Landscape for the City of Moscow: Possibilities Offered by Big Data Analysis'.
Business Cycles in the Russian Service Sector
On 11–14 September 2018 the 34th CIRET (Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys) conference took place in Rio de Janeiro, where Tamara Lipkind, Leading Expert at the HSE ISSEK Centre for Business Tendencies Studies presented a report on business cycles in the Russian service sector.
Region 2.0 — Looking for Smart Specialisation in the Era of Global Challenges
On August, 28–29, the 5th International Management Platform named after V. N. Eitingon under the motto ‘Leadership of the future. Knowledge. Skills. Results’ took place in Voronezh. Alexander Chulok, Director of the HSE ISSEK Centre for Science and Technology Foresight, took part in the plenary session and moderated one of the sections.
Biomedical Clusters: an International Experience for Moscow’s Infrastructure
What is a healthy city, how many residents of the capital adhere to a healthy lifestyle, what are the opportunities for this in Moscow? These and other issues were discussed on August 27 in the press centre of TASS at the panel discussion ‘Infrastructure of a healthy city’, organised by the Foundation of the International Medical Cluster, Moscow Centre of urban studies ‘City’ and VCIOM. The event was attended by Evgeniy Kutsenko, head of the HSE ISSEK Russian Cluster Observatory.