Innovation infrastructure in the region: problems and directions of development

Current models of innovation process prove that it is important to create a comprehensive infrastructure, since it is a necessary condition for promoting innovation development in the area. The article considers the concept of innovation infrastructure, defines its major subsystems and their constituent elements, and considers their functional purpose. The author argues that the effective functioning of innovation infrastructure requires the balanced formation and development of all its constituent subsystems: logistics, finance, personnel, information and marketing. The article shows that Russia is working actively in this direction. At the same time, the efficiency of using the infrastructure remains low. First of all, it is limited by the stagnation of demand for innovation on the part of Russian companies. It has been revealed that the infrastructure is developing primarily in those RF subjects and municipalities, which have the significant concentration of innovation potential and the high level of innovation activity (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tomsk Oblast, Republic of Tatarstan, etc.). At the same time, the transition to the innovation model of development requires the creation and effective use of innovation infrastructure in all the regions of the Russian Federation, and, first of all, in the regions where innovation, for whatever reasons, is not being developed properly. Such regions include the Vologda Oblast, which has been subject to the detailed analysis of the infrastructure subsystems; and its problems and development reserves have been identified. In general, the calculations indicate insufficient and unbalanced growth of the region’s innovation infrastructure and the necessity to change its individual subsystems. The author justifies the growing need for the development of regional production and financial infrastructure and proposes activities to develop innovation infrastructure: 1) to create the missing infrastructure elements that enterprises need; 2) to increase the performance efficiency of existing organizations; 3) to solve the problems that impede their functionin