Increasing the cognitive potential of medium-sized cities of Russia

The current state of the world economy poses enormous difficulties for Russia, overcoming which requires the mobilization of all resources and, above all, the cognitive potential of scientists, specialists and the entire population of the country, its regions and municipalities. It is possible that the economic transformation will come from below, so the municipal level is noless important here than the national level. In this light, in Russian cities, as part of the creation of an import substitution program, work has already begun to enhance the use of the intellectual abilities of scientificpersonnel and the general population. An important event ofsuch activityis establishing the Import Substitution Exchange on the basis of VPI (branch) VSTU. Its function is the accumulation and promotion ofdomestic developments and innovative ideas, products of cognitive activity ofspecialists and scientists. No less promising is the transformation of institutions of higher education into centers for the development and transfer of innovations. The purpose of the study is to consider the prospects for the development of the cognitive potential of medium-sized cities, topropose technologies for innovative transformations. Methods . General scientificmethods will be involved: situational analysis andcomparative comparison, as well as an excursion into the scientific publications of O.V. Inshakov. Results. The scientific significance in the field of fundamental and applied sciences of the works of O.V. Inshakov on multifactorial and multilevel models of social reproduction, the development of various types of settlements, the need to increase the cognitive potential of scientists and specialists at different levels of government.