Kyoto Cluster Culture : National and Regional Entrepreneurship Strategy and Policy in Japan and the United States

What causes regions such as Kyoto (city and prefecture) to create a self-sustaining critical mass, or cluster, of new venture start-ups in emerging sectors? Can this success in ‘clustering’ entrepreneurial businesses be replicated elsewhere? What are the most effective ways to connect fledgling firms to critical resources? This article examines life science (biotechnology and medical device) start-ups and their founders, firms and emerging clusters within which they are embedded. Firms and regions are examined through original case study survey/interviews and network analysis of entrepreneurial social (strategic support) networks and resource environments. Informal and formal strategy and policy networks – innovative coalitions of local stakeholders – are analyzed in terms of their relative success in creating an innovative milieu of extra-firm social networks within which new firms can prosper. Findings from Kyoto are compared with Minneapolis/St Paul (aka the ‘Twin Cities’), which is also attempting to create a convergence of products derived from innovations in two or more technology sectors (for example, nanotechnology and biotechnology), also based upon its strong medical device industry. Understanding Kyoto's cluster culture in a comparative perspective offers some strategic and policy lessons for newcomer regions and entrepreneurs, which are not dependent on a particular national context