Regions and Clusters in the Global Economy

The post-war period has been characterised by a strong growth of economic interdependencies at a global level. Regional economies and their industrial clusters were challenged to maintain or regain their competitiveness in the new global economy. Some regions, particularly core Areas, have undergone successful innovation-based transformation, while many old industrialised and peripheral regions have lost competitiveness, employment and parts of their economic base. In this contribution we deal with conceptual approaches to globalisation challenges of regions and clusters, focussing on types of regions, clusters and modes of innovation. We also provide examples of clusters located in different geographical contexts and investigate how they cope with innovation challenges and place-specific innovation barriers.