Today clustered network structures in many industrial countries become one of the most important mechanisms of organization of the innovation space. The article offers the a comparative analysis of the main specifics of the clustering process: dirigiste and neoliberal. Exploring the experience of Switzerland and France the authors made an attempt to reveal the main features of successes and failures faced by these countries while choosing different models of clustering. The article examines opportunities and risks of the countries with different economic and political systems (centralized and decentralized). The authors analyze contradictive effect of dirigiste regulative model of innovative sphere. Foreign practice may be very useful for Russia where the cluster orientation becomes a key tool of innovative development of some regions in particular Kaluga region. Using the example of Kaluga region the authors tried to show that major clustering success factor is taking into account of national and local features.