The Structure of Innovative Development of the Northwestern Federal District

In recent years, the issue of innovative development has taken a strong position in the policy of the Russian Federation. However, the positive shifts in the innovation sphere that occurred at the strategic level did not give the effects and results set by the Strategy for Innovative Development. The growth in the rate of world scientific and technological progress poses new challenges to the economy of the Russian Federation, which forces the state to concentrate resources in the field of science and innovation. One of the key problems is the abstraction of federal innovative development programs from the needs of regional economies and the specifics of their innovative development processes. The purpose of the article is to determine the main groups into which the subjects of the North-West Federal District can be istributed according to the achieved indicators of innovative development. This can contribute to a deeper understanding of the structure and specifics of the innovation sphere of the federal district. As a result of the study, the subjects of the Northwestern Federal District were divided into 4 clusters, depending on the level of innovative development.