The Institute of the Federal Territory as a Tool to Reduce Regulatory Risks and Unlock the Intellectual Potential of the “Sirius” Science City

In the context of escalating tensions between Russia and Western countries, the effective use of human intellectual capital becomes an ‘insurance certificate’ for ensuring technological sovereignty of each nation. In this regard, it is relevant to study the experience of creating the first federal territory on the basis of ‘Sirius’ science city, which is considered in this article in the framework of managerial paradigm of decision-making. The chosen theoretical and methodological approach makes it possible to assess the feasibility of using the institute of federal territory in relation to science city, taking into account the comparative advantages of the Sirius management model over other special legal regimes. The author concludes that the federal territory has public authorities, its own budget, property and built-in legal ‘brain drain stopper’ in the form of a grant agreement together with a set of measures to minimise the risks of legal regulation will reveal the intellectual potential of the federal territory institution, which can become a launching pad for scaling the ‘Sirius’ experience to other regions with a developed cluster of science and innovation and technology centres.