The introduction of the Cluster of enterprises of machine-building industry of Sumy region is caused by a number of problems that the machine-building industry has faced recently, namely the unprofitable maintenance of large machine-building enterprises in Sumy region due to the unloaded production and downtime of production sites. This leads to job cuts, the removal of highly qualified personnel from the region and the country and, as a consequence, to the lack of income in the city budget. Therefore, there is an urgent need to implement a policy to support the economic development of the region, namely the machine-building industry as the foundation of the Sumy economy. Also, the Cluster approach as a form of organization of the national economy is widely used today by the leading countries of the world, and it is an effective tool for the development of the economy of the regions, this can be seen on the example of the economies of Japan, the USA, South Korea and other countries.

Studies have shown that the formation of a Cluster in the machine building industry of the Sumy region is possible in the form of a triad (state - science - business). In Sumy region there are innovative and active enterprises that are dynamically developing in the field of mechanical engineering. At the same time, they have high scientific and technical potential and developed production bases. These enterprises can successfully operate and develop in the field of import substitution. A distinctive feature of their activities is the significant scientific and technical potential in the development of production of products for the oil and gas complex and the chemical industry. Therefore, the introduction of a Cluster of enterprises in the machine-building industry of Sumy region will help to increase the competitiveness of the national economy by achieving a balanced interaction between economic entities (business - state - science) and creating favorable conditions for the development and production of import-substituting compressor equipment for Ukrainian enterprises.

The functioning of the Cluster involves improving the quality of both basic and vocational education to form a skilled workforce capable of introducing innovation, establishing synergies between research institutions and business structures for the purpose of knowledge transfer. The interaction between educational institutions and business entities should include: ensuring demand in the labor market (training specialists in the required professions); Improving the quality of educational services (concluding contracts with leading companies to acquire practical skills during training (internships and internships), attracting heads of leading companies to state examinations committees, which will facilitate a more objective assessment of educational services. The Cluster is that the state is one of three equal parties, each of which exercises its specific functions.

The role of the state is to actively mediate and, as a consequence, eliminate a number of market failures (divergence of private and public costs and benefits).

Thus, the main expected result of the Cluster  creation is an increase in the share of compressor equipment produced by domestic manufacturers and is characterized by a high degree of localization of production in the territory of Ukraine, in the total volume of purchases of equipment for the needs of the economy of Ukraine and foreign trade.

Keywords:

cluster, business-science convergence, machine-building industry, import-substitution equipment.