The Government of the Russian Federation approved the adjustment of the current instrument for supporting industrial clusters.
The Association of Clusters and Technoparks (ACT) came up with an initiative to amend the rules in 2016. ACT conducted consultations with representatives of government authorities and industrial clusters in more than 40 regions, which resulted in submitting proposals to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. Many of them were subsequently adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation.
Now, manufacturers will be able to receive support from the final products of the industrial cluster. Also, changes were approved in terms of subsidizing some costs, it became possible to adjust the estimate and schedule of the approved project in case of significant changes in the terms of its implementation. The requirement for the volume of compulsory project financing at the expense of the project initiator's own funds in the first year of the project implementation has been reduced from 50% to 30%. The new rules introduce the procedure for competitive selection of projects once a year - earlier the commission for the selection of joint projects could meet several times a year as applications were received.
"One and a half years have passed since the launch of measures to support industrial clusters, despite its novelty, has already proved its effectiveness. Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, new cooperative chains are being created in the regions, competitive products are being produced, new jobs are being created, and labor productivity is increasing.
And the most important thing is that the business has got a really working tool that allows to increase cooperation and reduce the costs for implementing investment projects," said Andrey Shpilenko, ACT Director. - We, as a profile association, note the flexibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and readiness to listen to business proposals. This is especially important today, when all agencies have the task of increasing the effectiveness of government support measures."
The support of industrial clusters has been carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia since 2016, now 22 industrial clusters are included in the register of the Ministry (in Omsk region - Agrobiotechnological Industrial Cluster of Omsk Region (Omsky Biocluster) and Petrochemical Industrial Cluster of Omsk Region). Seven joint projects have been approved to provide state support, the total amount of subsidies to their initiators will be more than 1.6 billion rubles ($ 27.9 million) until 2020. The next competitive selection of joint projects will be held in 2018.
Source: Association of Clusters and Technoparks.
