What is agglomeration in terms of economy

The financial outlines and technological solutions of the modern information world are changing so quickly that it is impossible to keep track of the variable economic significance of familiar words, meanings and concepts. Say, what is agglomeration? It would seem that it is much simpler: a region of the country or a large industrial center, around which industrial and technological chains are formed, local labor and financial capital markets, scientific and training centers.

However ... such a picture is typical for the 30-70-ies, when the actual issue was the formation of industrial agglomerations. But the fact of the matter is that the market has already ceased to be exclusively industrial. Factories and factories are given entirely to devour financial instruments - loans, deposits, derivatives. And in place of traditional technologies comes information and control over information flows. Now to answer the question about what an agglomeration is, it seems more than complicated. Especially if we take into account the administrative domestic experience of designing artificial agglomerations.

Russian motivation was different from Western Europe: instead of economic efficiency, the convenience of bureaucratic management came first. Cities and villages, respectively, "attached" to the basic industrial center, which determined any prospects for the development of subordinate "satellites." Under these conditions, the terms of the economy did not work. The main was to build a model of centripetal management of all the resources provided. Of course, not to mention control, which is just "off scale".

The dictionary on economics issued by Infra publishing house in 1999 gives the following definition: agglomeration is "a compact arrangement, a grouping of settlements united not only in a spatial sense, but possessing developed production, cultural, recreational links." In other words, a little changed, but the Soviet understanding of this term still remains.

In order to understand what agglomeration is, you need to understand how modern production is organized . So, the first is no vertical, hierarchical connections. Relations are exclusively equal, horizontal, on the basis of mutual interest. If there is no such interest, then the production bundle does not work either. The second - the production cycle consists of three components: idea development (innovative solution) - financial tools - technological solution. Thus, the answer to the question of what agglomeration is is lying in the plane of the organization of labor (not of production in the "classical" sense) so that in one space and in the shortest possible time, under the condition of optimal capital investments, create a successful new product on the market . And best of all - a new brand.

In Russian conditions, speaking about what agglomeration is, it is necessary to clarify that at best, it should be about inter-municipal cooperation. This is due not only to the fact that in municipal and state ownership there are still critically many enterprises. The point is that there are no financial and management tools for forming such associations as agglomerations. Yes, and technological and scientific basis by and large, too, no. One enterprise, even the largest one, is not yet an opportunity to unite ... A conceptual project is required, like the project of the Ruhr area or Silicon Valley, then the result will be. And in an orderly manner, as we love it, nothing will turn out ....