The role of technological innovation in enhancing competitive advantage at the level of individual companies and industries, regions, and even countries, has increased interest in the innovation component of the cluster, and has led to revision of the concept of the treatment of cluster effects and of approaches to their study. As a result of theoretical research and analysis of practical situations, in the late 1990s W. Feldman and J. Audretsch developed a theory of economic development through the establishment of innovation clusters. In this paper we aim to identify the quantitative link between the participation in innovation clusters and universities, research centres, and other institutes of innovative development; we will also try to find the key factors affecting them. We used econometric procedures for 413 companies (based on the data of accounting and statistical reports) of the Perm region (Russia). The regression outcomes allow defining the 'stimulating' factors affecting participation in cluster relationships. The quantitative analysis was supplemented by in-depth interviews on different types of relationship forms among companies and institutes promoting innovation within the framework of a cluster concept.

innovation clusters; innovation infrastructure; institutes for innovative development; regional innovation system