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European Cluster Observatory

The European Cluster Observatory - a new platform for information on and analysis of clusters, cluster organisations and cluster policies in Europe, produced by the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Stockholm School of Economics (www.sse.edu/csc), has been launched.

The European Cluster Observatory - www.clusterobservatory.eu offers rich data on geographical patterns of specialisation across cluster categories, national and regional portfolios of clusters, cluster organisations, and national and regional policies and programmes related to innovation and clusters. The platform is based on four pillars:

1) Regional clusters based on 38 cluster categories (agglomeration of employment in co-located industries) in 259 regions (predominantly NUTS 2 regions). Web users can produce their own tables, graphs and maps of a particular nation or region, or for a particular cluster category across Europe (star rated clusters). In addition to employment data, the observatory offers regional innovation data and cluster category export performance.

2) Cluster organisations (regional/local private-public partnerships focused on cluster improvements). This database will be upgraded during the coming year.

3) Reports on national and regional cluster policies and programmes.

4) A library of cluster cases and other information (to be added during the coming year).

The database covers the EU-27 countries as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and Israel.

The European Cluster Observatory is coordinated by Professor Örjan Sölvell, director of CSC in cooperation with Christian Ketels (ISC and CSC), Emiliano Duch (Competitiveness Group), Laurent Soulier (Sophia Antipolis) and Harald Furre (Oxford Research Norway). The project is wholly financed by the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry, under the Europe INNOVA programme.

For more information please contact: Ms Marie Tsujita Stephenson, Center for Strategy and Competitiveness, telephone +46 08-736 9630, e-mail: marie.tsujita @ hhs.se