Kseniya A. Fiofanova

The article presents a comparative analysis of the development of edutainment centers (towns of professions, science parks, museums-interactoriums) in the cities of the world. Edutainment centers, in fact, not being pedagogical centers, implement humanitarian practices for the development of children, focusing on the development of social competencies (soft-skills), self-determination competencies (self-skills), competencies of the 21st century (future-skills). In educational research from a scientific and pedagogical point of view, the educational potential of edutainment centers has not been studied. However, their importance in the development of human potential is quite large. Also, according to the indicator «innovative educational infrastructure» (including edutainment centers), the index of innovative cities in the world and the index of human development are calculated. That is, the phenomenon of edutainment centers and their educational potential is an important element of the social and educational policy of the countries of the world.