Found at: http://www.competitiveness.org/article/articleprint/924/-1/84/
This international study grew from the TCI 2007 Annual Conference in Portland-USA, and shows the benefit of cluster practitioners getting together, agreeing to work together and moving knowledge of clusters forward.
One of the issues encountered by many public sector bodies when developing a clusters strategy is that much analysis of the industry sectors only gives a “snap shot” of how the cluster operates. Often it is the system dynamics that have a bigger influence on success or otherwise of the sector, i.e. How organisations and individuals work together. Scottish Enterprise (SE) worked with system thinking experts to bring this methodology into an understanding of clusters development. The outcome of this work was a five stage theoretical model that helped explain how a successful cluster might develop and the changes in behaviour and company interaction that might be seen at each stage. This has been turned into a practical tool for cluster managers to assess where they are in the process.
One challenge to the model is that it may just portray a specifically Scottish process of cluster development. In order to further test the model, and to explore its more general applicability, SE wanted to share this methodology with other like-minded economic development agencies working to support clusters in their countries and regions and research the results across these different contexts. The first stage of this was to present the model and initial findings at the Competitiveness Institute conference, Clusters 2007 in Portland. The presentation drew wide interest and expressions of interest in becoming involved in further discussions were received from a wide range of geographies (including Denmark, Canada, Finland, California and Sweden). These partners are now carrying out similar studies with clusters in their geographies using the same methodology. The group will convene in Glasgow at the end of June to compare results and share learning.
The outcome of this project will be presented at the TCI Clusters 2008 conference in Cape Town in October. This international study grew from the TCI conference last year, and shows the benefit of cluster practitioners getting together, agreeing to work together and moving knowledge of clusters forward.
Madeline Smith
May 08
Industries, Scottish Enterprise
www.scottish-enterprise.com