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Pune, the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra, India has received a formal government approval to set up an auto cluster, making it the first cluster of its kind in the country.

U.K. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced a government investment to match funding from three regional development agencies to boost employment, transport, housing and tourism in the North of England over the next 20 years. The objective is to close the prosperity gap between the North and the richer southern part of the country.

Mechatronics sounds like a new video game but may be a major economic driver for Virginia (U.S.) in the future. Mechatronics is the synergy of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering , and software engineering. Mechatronics companies are involved in the production of planetary-rovers (like the one used for the exploration of Mars), automotive subsystems such as anti-block system and every day equipment such as autofocus cameras and washing machines.

A new technology cluster in Patagonia was presented last Friday, Sept. 17 by governor Miguel Saiz of the Rio Negro province in Argentina. The COPAT cluster (Complejo Patagónico de Alta Tecnología) main goals are to: incubate innovative hi-tech companies, promote technology projects, promote investigation and education.

Acting President, National Research Council Canada

PRO Maschinenbau OWL is a network in Bielefeld and shows how to transform from an old industry to an innovative mashinery cluster, using the highly developed existing infrastructure.

This paper, published in 2000 by several students of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy in Helsinki, is aimed to be a preliminary identification of the basic industrial sectors in St. Petersburg that could serve as a basis for further competitive clusters formation.

Stuart Rosenfeld (2001): Creating Smart Systems: A guide to cluster strategies in less favoured regions; European Union-Regional Innovation Strategies.
This publication focuses instead on cluster-based actions that are appropriate to less advantaged regions. It provides a menu of actions appropriate to clusters in less favoured regions that have been used successfully to improve cluster competitiveness.

The Programme "Development of Clusters and Networks of SMEs" is one of the programmes implemented by the UNIDO Private Sector Development Branch. This report of 2001 describes the methodologies the programme's approach and gives some examples from experience.

ETH Zürich, Switzerland