The Role of Clusters in Knowledge Creation and Diffusion – an Institutional Perspective

Clusters and networks have received renewed attention in recent years not only as a tool for regional development in general but as an institution of knowledge creation and diffusion between the knowledge infrastructure of a region and the firms within the clusters. They are therefore often regarded as geographically condensed forms of economic cooperation and knowledge exchange. The recent renaissance of interest in institutions as a factor shaping economic performance has therefore also implications for the creation and sustained existence of clusters and networks as a tool for knowledge management and as learning organisations within and across regions. This institutional perspective serves to identify additional factors influencing economic behaviour leading to cooperation. Different strands of institutional thinking –institutions as “social technologies” in the tradition of evolutionary economics, clusters as a form of Coase institution integrating positive external effects of technological knowledge, the importance of knowledge sharing in the context of the “New Institutional Economics” – emphasize that connectivity cannot be effectively coordinated by conventional markets. Clusters and networks are among the non-market devices by which firms seek to coordinate their activities with other firms and other knowledge-generating institutions. But it is also important to emphasize that clusters as coordinating institutions are not automatically just there but that they are the result of an evolving process shaped by policy activities and entrepreneurial behaviour responding to new challenges. Clusters as social technologies are co-evolving with new physical technologies and are therefore in constant need to change themselves. They can be regarded as an answer to the problems of achieving agreement and coordination in a context where there is a collective interest. They combine different additional elements that are important for regional development and economic growth.

Enlarging the scale of knowledge in innovation networks: theoretical perspectives and policy issues

Nowadays, it is widely accepted that knowledge and learning are the core of competitiveness, international division of labour and agglomeration and exclusion phenomena. Yet we are still in need of a better understanding of the processes which allow access by individual regions both to codified knowledge and RTD networks as well as tacit knowledge and know-how at the international/interregional level. This paper will discuss possible approaches to analyze the mechanisms which operate at the international/interregional level and lead to higher forms of integration of industrial and service firms, not only in a commercial or financial perspective but also in knowledge and innovation networks. It will point to a need to develop policy strategies in support of institutions that create and transfer knowledge on a European scale and outline open questions for the creation of the necessary institutional background for the creation and the support of knowledge and innovation networks at this level and for the conditions of its transferability to Objective 1 regions and the EU candidate countries.

Interfirm co-operation and learning within SME networks - two cases from the Styrian Automotive cluster

Recent publications in the cluster-related literature have shown that interfirm links imply the potential to foster higher forms of learning within clusters. Especially networks deserve in this context a particular focus of attention. The purpose of this paper is to show essential conditions that should be present at cluster level in order to enable such forms of learning between the firms. This will be done in order to give a first advice for public and semi-public cluster institutions to facilitate interfirm collaborations and cluster related activities. Two case-studies of SME-networks selected from Styrian clusters will give the opportunity to get deeper insights into the conditions that enable clusters to bring forth double loop learning activities. In a first step particular criteria for the presence of double-loop learning will be established. In a second step the conditions for this specific type of learning will be dealt with. Among the categories of conditions that will be examined in detail are the relations and interactions in the network, the types of joint projects carried out between the firms and the specific organizational culture that prevails at the individual firm level. Key words: SME-networks, learning, organizational culture.

Material and immaterial dimensions of clusters. Cooperation and learning as infrastructure for innovation

The paper concentrates on forms of cooperation in a learning context and presents theory-based empirical results of interactive learning processes in different clusters. A general outline of institutional aspects of clusters and networks is given and more specific theories of interactive learning are focussed. An extensive comparison of forms of such learning processes is undertaken, and finally policy conclusions are be drawn.