New generation of regional universities in Russia

Abstract

The regionalization of economic processes associated with digital transformation actualized the issue of the universities influence on the territories industrial development. The Russian industry has a significant gap from the industries of the developed countries, which raised the issue of the necessity the introduction of new technologies, new knowledge and the transformation of the traditional industry. The process of supporting the leading regional universities began in Russia with the aim of activating their interaction with the region’s industry. The article analyzes the socio-economic situation of the regions, in which flagship universities receive state support. The main objective of such universities is the university-industry cooperation in the sphere of new knowledge and technologies. The authors analyzed socio-economic factors that encouraged regional universities to participate in the flagship universities project competitive selection. The article examines the first eleven universities that have become flagship in this project. The authors presented a regional university –industry cooperation business model. The article focuses on two forms of such cooperation: direct cooperation and triangle cooperation (university-industry-state). The article shows that the flagship universities project has positive results of implementation during the first years of realization. More than 70% of the flagship universities became active partners with the regional industry and pushed the growth of the regional economy. Moreover, this article puts a start to a large research about the university-industry cooperation, especially in the engineering universities. The main problems and barriers of university-industry cooperation in Russia are determined in the article.