Sergei Sobyanin writes about the large industrial clusters that are to be created in Moscow

The last decade has been a time of revival for Moscow’s industrial sector.  

 

The last decade has been a time of revival for Moscow’s industrial sector. The capital has almost 4,600 large and small industrial enterprises, representing more than 20 branches of the real sector of economy, from machine building to the food industry and printing. In his blog, Sergei Sobyanin describes Moscow’s industrial development strategy for the period until 2030.

“The capital ranks first in Russia in terms of production in the microelectronics (radio electronics), electric vehicle manufacturing, aerospace and medical industries. The manufacturing sector has become the most important driving force of Moscow’s economy, providing 13 percent of the capital’s gross regional product and employing over 755,000 people—one in ten workers in the capital. Manufacturing output has more than tripled since 2019. And it would not be an exaggeration to call modern Moscow the main engine of Russia’s technological development,” the Mayor wrote.

The Moscow City Government is focused on supporting priority high-tech industries and improving the availability and quality of industrial infrastructure. It is planned that by 2030 the area of land occupied by industrial premises will reach 25 million square meters, and the share of private investment in the development of production facilities will be about 75 percent.

In order to develop industry, the city helps production facilities to recruit qualified personnel, offers companies a large market and provides them with opportunities to build full-cycle cooperation chains from the initial development to the mass production of the finished product. In addition, Moscow has introduced support measures for businesses. These measures help enterprises set up production operations in the capital.

Creation of infrastructure for industrial development

One of the key objectives of the strategy is to create the best possible infrastructure for the development of high-tech industry. The Moscow Technopolis special economic zone (SEZ) has become the key location for new production facilities. Its 10 sites cover more than 390 hectares. The total area occupied by production and public-business infrastructure is 1.8 million square meters.

More than 230 enterprises in a wide range of different industries operate in the SEZ. Of these, 125 companies have resident status and enjoy tax privileges: exemption from property, land and transportation taxes for 10 years, corporate profits tax rate reduced to two percent, land lease payments at two percent of the cadastral value and a free customs zone.

The companies have invested over 267 billion rubles in the development of their production facilities and created over 28,000 high-tech jobs. Moscow Technopolis residents produce laser processing machines, industrial robots, medical equipment, solar batteries for Russia’s constellation of space communications satellites, innovative medicines and much more.

One of the largest SEZ sites is Rudnevo Industrial Park. It contains over 20 administrative, business and industrial buildings, occupying a total area of 440,000 square meters. The design of a new complex for of machine tools, instrumentation and aircraft manufacturing operations, with a total area of about 400,000 square meters, is currently underway. Commissioning is scheduled for 2027.

New buildings for high-tech enterprises are being constructed at another large Moscow Technopolis site, Pechatniki. Their total area will be about 429,000 square meters.

“By 2030 we plan to significantly increase the area of Moscow Technopolis SEZ—to 600 hectares and 5.7 million square meters of production and business infrastructure. SEZ enterprises will employ more than 90,000 specialists. About 600 high-tech companies will manufacture products in the SEZ. As a result, several large sector-based high-tech industry clusters will be formed on the Technopolis sites,” added Sergei Sobyanin.

In addition, Moscow is actively developing technoparks—sites to house innovative production facilities and startups. These are being opened on the basis of existing scientific and industrial associations or built from scratch as part of projects to reorganize former industrial zones and other inefficiently used territories.

Today there are 49 technoparks operating in the city. 2,200 high-tech companies, employing 75,900 people, have their production facilities in Moscow’s technoparks. 93 percent of technopark residents are SMEs, with large companies making up only seven percent. The status of anchor resident has been assigned to the 24 most significant enterprises.

According to the city’s development strategy it is planned to increase the total volume of investments to 475 billion rubles, to put into operation about 2.5 million square meters of laboratory, production and office space, and to double the capacity of the technoparks, increasing the number of companies up to 5,000 and the jobs they provide to 150,000.

Microelectronics and Photonics Cluster

Moscow is the leading center in Russia’s radio-electronic industry. 872 enterprises operating in this industry are based in the capital. Moscow factories produce chips, electronic and optical products, innovative communications and control systems, modern measuring and navigation equipment and much more.

In 2024, the capital’s radio electronics industry grew by a factor of 2.1 time, compared with the previous year. Revenue amounted to 959 billion rubles, which corresponds to 40 percent of the total volume for Russia.

In March 2025, the construction of the Moscow Photonics Center was completed. It will produce photonic integrated circuits that will can increase data transmission speeds by 50-100 times. These products are likely to be required in the telecommunications, space communications, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.

Another important project falling within the cluster establishment program is the construction of a photo template center. Moscow’s partners in the implementation of this project were the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology National Research University. The company will manufacture photographic templates that are used in the creation of integrated circuits. The center will have a production capacity of up to 5,500 units per year.

In addition, the Moscow City Government together with the Element Group of Companies is preparing to open the Moscow Microelectronics Testing Laboratory. This is a modern center for component base testing and the chemical analysis of electronics materials, conducted by highly qualified specialists using advanced equipment.

Pharmaceutical cluster

Russia’s largest pharmaceutical cluster is being created at the Alabushevo and Pechatniki sites. Today, it has 14 companies providing over three thousand high-paying jobs.

The companies produce drugs for the treatment of oncological, cardiological, autoimmune and other diseases. Cluster residents have invested more than 55 billion rubles in the development of production facilities. It is planned that another 47.3 billion rubles in investment will be attracted by 2030.

In the next few years, the total area occupied by enterprises in the pharmaceutical will increase to 300,000 square meters. Once the production facilities reach their design capacity, they will employ about 4,400 people.

Electric vehicle manufacturing cluster

The capital pays special attention to the development of the electric vehicle manufacturing cluster. One of the leading companies in this area is Moskvich.

The Moskvich-3e electric car occupies a unique place in its vehicle portfolio It features an electric motor with a peak output of 193 horsepower and a 65.7 kilowatt-hour battery with a range of up to 410 kilometers. For drivers’ convenience, the model supports both slow and fast charging.

The level of production localization at the enterprise is constantly growing, and it now produces its own glass, batteries, tires, disks, seats, springs, anti-lock braking system units and other components. By the end of the year it is planned to start mass production of several dozen more items.

In addition, the enterprise has recently opened its own research and development center employing more than 60 engineers.

Another promising initiative is the Atom project, which has developed its own technological platform. In June 2025, the main production line equipment was installed and key areas for welding, painting and assembly were prepared. Mass production of the cars will start soon. The electric car will be assembled in four versions: for use by private individuals, as taxi cabs, in carsharing projects and the public sector.

The capital is a leader in the development of charging infrastructure. Anchor resident of the Svyaz Engineering Technopark and a member of the Moscow electric vehicle construction cluster, which is based on the Technopolis Moscow SEZ, Parus Electro has developed a unique charging station. The station provides fast charging for electric vehicles and fits well into the capital’s modern design code.

Another company, Revatt, has completed the development of a distributed charging hub system. This is a high-tech modular solution for the mass charging of vehicles with virtually no restrictions: the number of connection points depends solely on the available electrical power. If necessary, a pantograph can be added to the system for charging electric buses.

Elevator and vertical transport cluster

At another Moscow Technopolis site—the Moscow Karacharovsky Mechanical Plant on Ryazansky Prospekt, an elevator construction and vertical transport cluster is being formed. It already produces modern elevators, and will also start production of travellators, escalators, related equipment and components of lifting devices (control systems, frequency converters, cabin door drives, TFT-screens, etc.).

For the first time in Russia, in December 2024, the Moscow City Government awarded offset contracts for the supply of elevator equipment for capital maintenance and renovation programs. Within 10 years Karacharovsky Mechanical Plant will supply the city with at least 22,700 elevators. In order to achieve this purpose the enterprise will carry out large-scale modernization, build new production buildings and organize mass production of new-generation passenger elevators. Investments in development will exceed 2.1 billion rubles.

Battery cluster

The battery is a key element in electric vehicles. Producing these components in Russia is a most important condition for technological sovereignty in the industry.

A battery production cluster is being created at the Krasnaya Pakhra site of the Moscow Technopolis special economic zone. Two plants are under construction. One will produce high-power traction batteries and the other will produce low-power batteries. These will be used in electric vehicles, utility and maintenance vehicles, drones and personal mobility vehicles.

As a result, the capital will have modern production facilities, and new jobs and opportunities will be created for young professionals. In 2023, the city contracted to supply more than 155,000 traction batteries for electric buses, Moskvich cars and electric river vessels.

Industrial clusters in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky Administrative Districts

Monarch has recently completed the construction of a unique robotic plant for large-module house building its Tolstopaltsevo site.

Large (up to 100 square meters) modules, fully equipped with utilities, equipment, facade systems, doors, windows and even interior finishes, are manufactured at the factory and assembled at the construction site. Thanks to this, the construction time of kindergartens and schools is reduced by about 50 percent, and that of residential buildings by 30 percent.

Two more large industrial clusters—a construction and a food cluster—will appear in the capital’s Krasnopahorsky district. The construction cluster will be erected on an area of about 200 hectares. It is planned to create more than 400,000 square meters of industrial space in the cluster, and the total potential of the site will be about 990,000 square meters. It will produce reinforced concrete and building structures, modular components, metal products, wooden flooring and other products. The project will provide employment for about 14,000 people.

The food cluster will be located on an area of more than 125 hectares. The total construction area will exceed 800,000 square meters. Implementation of the project will create at least 13,000 jobs.

By 2030, the cluster will include enterprises producing meat and dairy products, bakery and confectionery products, and ready meals. In the future it is planned to create glass and eco-industrial clusters in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky Administrative Districts.