Found at: http://www.competitiveness.org/article/articleprint/56/-1/8/
US cluster expert, and TCI Member, Stu Rosenfeld has forwarded a draft of white paper prepared for the presidents of 10 state community college systems. Summary follows.
Industry clusters have become the new mantra for economic development policy. But recently practitioners have learned that clustering is first and foremost influenced by talent - by concentrations of experienced and skilled labour, by the availability of the customized and specialized education and training - that produces and upgrades skills and knowledge. The key to the success of almost every cluster is a labour force with the appropriate skills for, and knowledge of, the industries located within the cluster. Industry needs the ?commodity skills? that are easily transferable - but also wants industry specific skills, which are scarcer.
The geography of human resources is so important because other key resources (technology, capital) unlike skilled human capital, can be transferred instantly. Nothing is more important to clusters than the development of their human resources, and in no area are they more dependent on the state, which is the biggest single investor in education and training. Equally important, clusters are important to students and workers. More employers clustered in a region translate into more employment, advancement, and learning opportunities; and clusters form the basis for building effective career ladders.
Most educational institutions have inadequately recognized the specialized needs of their regions? clustered industries...it is primarily the regional two- and four- year technical institutions that are best able to focus on and respond to regional economies. Over the past 15 years, community and technical colleges have done an excellent job of responding to the needs of SMEs ? but most colleges have not yet discovered the value to their economy of becoming a particular cluster?s center of excellence, or figured out how to develop the specialized expertise needed by specific types of firms.