Innovation clusters and regional development: dilemmas and possibilities (216)

Theme Track: Regional Competitiveness - Innovative Milieu and Cluster

Authors:
Parto, Saeed ; Doloreux, David

The last ten or so years have witnessed a proliferation in the literature on innovative economic clusters. This literature attempts to explain regional economic success in terms of concentrated formal and tacit knowledge and 'institutional thickness' centred on interaction and co-operation to serve suppliers or customers in the value-chain. The link between regional economic development and innovative clusters remains unclear. At the same time, the concept of clusters has been adopted by government agencies as a model to promote innovation to fill gaps, address weaknesses, or build on promising but underrated activities at a regional scale. This paper critically re-examines the recent literature and policy discourse on innovative economic clusters to identify what factors constitute a "cluster"; discuss how these factors need to be viewed in terms of the dialectics of convergence and variation; and, highlight the dilemmas and possibilities that lay ahead for policy makers, academics, and others interested in innovative regional development strategies.

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