Driving factors for cluster development - Which kind of spatial rootedness and change?

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. (authors' abstract)