THE EXPERIENCE OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN IMPLEMENTING CLUSTER POLICY

Mindlin Yury Borisovich

The study of foreign, including European, experience in implementing cluster policy is relevant and important for improving the effectiveness of cluster policy in other countries where Russia is of the greatest interest. The article examines the experience of European countries in implementing cluster policy, the principles of the cluster model of industrial policy formation in European countries, and identifies the features of the cluster approach of European countries in comparison with the approaches of other regions of the world – the American and Asian approaches. The result of the study was a systematization of the disadvantages and limitations of the European approach to cluster policy implementation. It was revealed that in European countries, the so-called "bottom-up" approach prevails in cluster policy, where the market plays a leading role and the government acts as a catalyst, but does not set national priorities. The author identified the following disadvantages and limitations of the European approach to cluster policy implementation: limited synergy, risk of isolation, dependence on external factors, limited resources, and scaling difficulties. The author comes to the conclusion that the European approach to implementing cluster policy in general is not effective enough compared to other approaches.

Keywords:cluster, cluster approach, cluster initiatives, industrial cluster, cluster policy, Europe, European countries, foreign experience