National industrial policy of Russia in the framework of neo-industrial vector of development: conceptual approaches

Currently, the majority of scientific and expert community and politicians recognize the key role of “new industry” in economic growth of countries and their competitiveness in world markets. The new industrial policy - characterized as “industrial Renaissance” - of some leading countries (after the 2008 global financial crisis) combines focus on the development of breakthrough technology and a new approach to cooperation in the framework of formation and implementation of industrial policy. The existing Russian practice of formation and implementation of industrial policy is poorly linked to national priorities and the objectives of ensuring sustainable economic growth and increase in welfare. This hampers the effective use of the country’s own resources in order to ensure competitiveness and progressive development. The author considers “national industrial policy” to be a set of measures that aim to develop the industrial sector and increase its competitiveness through the system interaction between the government, business and society; this set of measures also aims to provide sustainable economic growth and increase national welfare. Russia needs a convergent approach that combines, in definite proportions, the advantages of vertical and horizontal measures, because the break-up of vertical (inter-sectoral) and horizontal (cross-sectoral) relationships and the antagonism between the interests of the main actors became Russia’s specific features resulting from the chaos of post-Soviet reforms. Industrial policy should be carried out with the use of system-wide target-setting associated with the solution of economic tasks, and also establish specific effective mechanisms of its implementation in the framework of the “network” approach.