Emerging Clusters. Theoretical, Empirical and Political Perspectives on the Initial Stage of Cluster Evolution

摘要

The cluster phenomenon keeps attracting remarkable attention and popularity which are evidenced by an avalanche of academic literature. The cluster literature, although abundant, does not include too many in-depth analyses of cluster emergence. Previous attempts to explain the formation of new regional clusters include, for example, Breshanan and gambardella's Building High-Tech Clusters (2004). From the 'early days' of the cluster research, that is, since the 1990s, a significant part of the cluster literature has focused on two major issues: how to copy the success of Silicon Valley in California and how to apply or criticize Michael Porter's account of clusters (for example, Porter, 1998). It is delightful to observe that the analysis of clusters is (finally) attempting to take additional steps to understand the cluster phenomenon in a more profound way. ASHEIM et al. (2006) could be mentioned as an example of pushing the regional cluster research to a new level. Emerging Clusters, the outcome of a workshop on emerging clusters held in 2008, provides yet another contribution to the regional cluster literature, focusing on cluster emergence.