Driving factors for cluster change: A comparative perspective

Beschreibung

Clusters are consistently a prominent topic in research on regional development. Cluster competitiveness and performance in terms of sales and employment growth, and innovation were often investigated. More recently cluster long term development and transformation have received attention with life cycle- and evolutionary models as conceptual backgrounds. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps as to the driving forces, the changing importance of relevant factors over time and their role at different spatial scales. We argue that driving factors and supportive settings differ between types of industries and clusters, since markets, firm sizes, technologies and innovation processes are highly specific. In the paper we investigate and compare the environmental technology sector of Upper Austria and the New Media sector of Vienna with regards to these specific sets of factors. The paper is based on 55 semi-standardised company interviews, and other sources. Environmental technologies in Upper Austria have emerged in the 1970s from traditional industries in the region such as materials, machinery and engineering, and the sector have been growing strongly since the 1990s. The cluster focusses on technology areas such as energy, waste and pollution, it serves from regional to European markets, and it innovates largely based on synthetic knowledge that is to some extent also combined with analytical knowledge. Regulations at both national and European levels are of key importance for the development of this cluster. New Media firms in Vienna are to a large extent small and micro firms relying often on project-based work. Creativity and symbolic knowledge play an important role, making companies more reliant on the local cultural milieu and networks. At the same time, however, there is a strong need and pressure to tap into global knowledge bases and networks, and to integrate and adapt such knowledge for local applications and markets.

Zeitraum	26 Aug. 2014 → 29 Aug. 2014
Ereignistitel	54th European Congress of the Regional Science Association (ERSA)
Veranstaltungstyp	Keine Angaben
Bekanntheitsgrad	International