Cluster Genesis: Technology-Based Industrial Development

Description:
Clusters - regional concentrations of related firms and organizations - are seen as being an important element of economic growth and innovation. But there is little understanding of how clusters come into existence, and little guidance provided on the role of policies that are conducive to the formation of clusters. Cluster Genesis focuses on these early origins of clusters. The case histories of well-known, established clusters, as well as more recently-developed clusters are discussed, including: * The Hollywood motion picture cluster, * Silicon Valley, * Boston and San Francisco biotech regions, * The Biotech industry in China, * Medicon Valley in Scandinavia, * The Irish ITC sector. Leading scholars contribute chapters examining cluster genesis, the divergent processes by which clusters arise, how multinationals contribute to cluster development, and how economic development policy may promote or hinder cluster genesis. Cluster Genesis uses a variety of methodological perspectives, examines a range of policy options, and draws on a number of rich case histories, and will be key reading for academics, researchers, and students of Economics, Innovation, Sociology, Geography, and Management Studies, as well as economic development officials and policy makers.

Table of Contents:
1. The Genesis of Industrial Clusters; I: CREATION MYTHS REVISITED; 2. The Origins and Growth of the Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry: The First Three Decades; 3. The Co-evolution of Technologies and Institutions: Silicon Valley as the Iconic High-Technology Cluster; 4. Accounting for Emergence and Novelty in Boston and Bay Area Biotechnology; II: I. CONSIDERING THE DEVELOPING CLUSTER CONTEXT; 5. Anatomy of Cluster Development: The Case of U.S. Human Biotherapeutics, 1976-2003; 6. Policy-Induced Clusters: The Genesis of Biotechnology Clustering on the East Coast of China; 7. The Emergence of a European Biotechnology Cluster: The case of Medicon Valley; 8. The Emergence of Ireland's ICT Clusters: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment; 9. The Emergence of Israel's Venture Capital Industry: How Policy Can Influence High-Tech Cluster Dynamics; III: I. CRAFTING CLUSTER AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY; 10. Clusters and Clustering: Stylised Facts, Issues, and Theories; 11. Mors tua, Vita mea? The Rise and Fall of Innovative Industrial Clusters; 12. Local Antecedents and Trigger Events: Policy Implications of Path Dependence for Cluster Formation; 13. The Role of Public Policy in Emerging Clusters