Cluster policy of innovative development in the conditions of global challenges

Problem setting. The article notes that one of the priority directions of innovative development in the EU is the implementation of cluster policy. It is the innovative component that plays the main role in the formation of clusters and ensuring their expansion. The innovation process is considered as a systemic process of creating, spreading and applying an innovation, as well as a process of introducing new changes in the environment where the life cycle of innovations arises. In the special legal period of martial law due to the imposition of global changes, the challenges that significantly affect the acceleration of transformations in the innovation process and the priority of fulfilling cluster policy tasks are intensified. It is necessary to establish changes in the directions of cluster policy for innovative development under the influence of global challenges. Analysis of recent researches and publications. Mamchur V. & Studinska G. defined the paradoxes of innovative development, carried out an analysis of the current state of innovative development of Ukraine in the assessment of world ratings. E. Redziuk considered the formation of competitive clusters of Ukraine in the conditions of global challenges. Bolewski A., Ślusarz G., Dergachova V. determined the policy of innovative development of national economies, their integration and infrastructural aspects. The experience of foreign and domestic implementation of cluster models of territorial and sectoral organization of production was devoted to research by D.O. Litvinov. &, Crazy V.A. The analysis of these studies shows the increasing relevance of determining the connection between the topics of cluster policy and innovative development. Purpose of the research is to determine the general principles of ensuring the implementation of the cluster policy regarding innovative development in the conditions of global challenges. Article’s main body. From the experience of the European Commission, the essence of clusters and their distribution in the EU has been determined. The presence of European clusters according to the results of the EU Cluster Panorama correlates with more tangible innovative behavior, economic productivity and employment results at the level of enterprises, increasing their sustainability, which is important for responding to global challenges in the field innovations, which, in particular, are strengthened by the state of war in Ukraine. The new document of the CMU of August 2024 regarding the Strategy for the recovery, sustainable development and digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises for the period until 2027 defines strategic goal 2 as the promotion of innovative development, digital transformation and "green transition", which involves the formation of a new order of the economy. The Ukrainian Cluster Alliance provided an analysis of the achieved cluster projects in the study on the development of industrial ecosystems in Ukraine, and also focused on the challenges. To strengthen the importance of clusters in the innovative development of enterprises, representatives of the Ukrainian Business Council and the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance of 2024 joined together in the joint project "Model of the Modern Innovation Ecosystem". To measure interest in the topics of cluster policy, cluster, innovation process and innovation development, the Google Trends search engine was used on different dates and in different time periods, which showed a reduced demand for the topic of innovation. Therefore, the network of innovation clusters can be considered by the state as a priority element in the improvement of relevant national policies for innovative development. Conclusions and prospects for the development. The considered task of determining changes in the directions of cluster policy for innovative development under the influence of global challenges indicates an urgent need to develop measures to significantly promote changes and additional state regulatory intervention for the implementation of European approaches to the formation of clusters, which should positively affect both the innovation process and innovative development in the conditions of martial law and recovery.