Humanities & Social Sciences 11 (2016 9) 2575-2580 ~ ~ ~ УДК 338.130.2(510) Scientifi c-Educational Cluster as a Way of Forming Innovation-Focused Partnership in Russian-Chinese Co-Development: Potential, Priorities and Development Vector in the Sociocultural Medium of Borderland Valentina S. Morozova* and Kristina S. Dubrovskaya Transbaikal State University 30 Alexandro-Zavodskaya Str., Chita, 672039, Russia Received 09.06.2016, received in revised form 21.08.2016, accepted 04.10.2016 The article substantiates the necessity for creation and development of a scientifi c-educational cluster under the conditions of activating Russian-Chinese co-development processes in the cross-border sociocultural medium. <...> In the context of persistent expansion of Chinese “soft power”, clustering is more than a way of concentrating material and intellectual resources. <...> Clustering means the only chance for the Russian border areas to prevent forced introduction of foreign cultural elements. <...> Authors suggest including the model of “the regional bordering cultures’ dialogue” into the clustering concept to provide the basis for the clusters’ functioning in the Russian-Chinese borderland and to build the behaviour pattern of mutual complementarity, not the role-picking one. <...> Those are the borderland universities, united by similar characteristics, that are able to lead Russian education into the competitive conditions of Russian-Chinese international educational space development. <...> Keywords: regional borderland culture, clustering, sociocultural space, Russian-Chinese crossborder cooperation, scientifi c-educational cluster, integration, innovation. <...> The length of Russian-Chinese border leads to the © Siberian Federal University. <...> For this reason, it is fair to develop innovative mechanisms of interaction Valentina S. Morozova, Kristina S. Dubrovskaya. <...> Scientifi c-Educational Cluster as a Way of Forming Innovation-Focused… between the borderlands of Russia and China in the context of mutual infl uence and cooperation. <...> Studying general modern geography of Russian-Chinese relations, we may notice that they form two lines: Centre-Centre (Moscow, Saint Petersburg – Beijing, Shanghai) and borderland cooperation (so-called regional pairs, e.g. the Transbaikal Territory (Krai) – Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region). <...> The interaction of the fi rst type receives much more attention, falling beyond the general vector of Russian-Chinese cooperation set by the governments of the two countries. <...> The sociocultural medium of Russian and Chinese borderland consists of the border regions’ cultures remarkable for adopted cultural phenomena, readiness for cultural interaction, solidarity in the peoples <...>