The question of the spatial impacts of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has animated the intellectual and policy debate for a long time. At the beginning of the 1990s the rise of the Internet brought a new surge of debate: it was argued that the Internet would free the economy...

This paper adopts sociometric analysis to explore the process of knowledge acquisition and diffusion in clusters of firms. By comparing the knowledge systems of two clusters selected for being at different stages of their development path, this study shows that the knowledge system of the...

In dem Beitrag wird untersucht, wie unterschiedliche Ausprägungen regionaler Konzentration und Spezialisierung das langfristige Wachstum neugegründeter Unternehmen beeinflussen. Die Stichprobe umfasst wissensintensive und nicht-wissensintensive westdeutsche Unternehmen des verarbeitenden...

We study investments in R&D and the formation of R&D clusters of firms which are competitors in the market. In a three stage game, firms first decide on long-term R&D investment, then form research clusters according to the unanimity game introduced in Bloch(1995), and finally compete in...

Competitiveness clusters (or innovation clusters) are the focal point of French new industrial policy. They are based on classical cluster model and its well-known agglomeration positive externalities and on benefits of cooperation. After a brief literature review of cluster theory, we focus on...

Criticisms vis-à-vis cluster policy are numerous, often confusing and really unhelpful; while some authors systematically question the merits, others on the contrary play a genuine role of counsel in his favour. This paper attempts to refocus the debate and analyses the economic issues, impacts...

The paper aims to examine the role of academic institutions in the development of the ICT cluster of the Waterloo Region in Ontario, Canada. The regional economic impact of clusters as well as academic institutions relies heavily on its ability to innovate. The ICT sector with its analytical...

Cluster studies have shown that innovation can be understood as the result of an inter- organizational process, where a division of labor with regard to exploration and exploitation exists among the actors inside the cluster. A cluster is ambidextrous if it manages to balance innovative...

In this explorative study, we adopt a knowledge-centred perspective on clusters and investigate whether clusters' internal structure explains clusters' external (knowledge) collaborative strategies. All in all, the main analytical issue underlying this paper is the following: do internal...

This paper adopts sociometric analysis to explore the process of knowledge acquisition and diffusion in clusters of firms. By comparing the knowledge systems of two clusters selected for being at different stages of their development path, this study shows that the knowledge system of the...