Driving factors and spatial scales for cluster development - The case of environmental technologies in Upper Austria

Driving factors and mechanisms for cluster development have often been investigated based on the standard cluster approach as conceptualised e.g. by Michael Porter. These studies have revealed certain insights regarding the role of local entrepreneurship, factor conditions, demand, and related industries in supporting clusters. However, such factors were analysed often from a static competitiveness perspective, and they were often seen as rooted in a region or part of an overly schematic local-global pattern. We suggest instead that driving factors of cluster development coexist at several spatial scales such as regional, national, European and global levels. We also argue that specific factors change in their importance for firms and for clusters over time, and that these changes are industry- and knowledge base specific. Relying on insights from cluster life cycle-, evolutionary- and knowledge base approaches among others we investigate changes in driving factors for cluster development and their relationship to different geographical scales. We provide some answers to these questions by comparing the environmental technology sector of Upper Austria and the New Media sector of Vienna, industries that differ in their knowledge bases and their spatial rootedness.