Using social media to support cluster development

Abstract

Developing European transnational clusters is a cornerstone in current EU-policies towards a sustainable competitive and open European economy. Within this conceptual paper relates these objectives to new developments in the application of network IT or, in popular terms, the rise of social media. The growing importance of clusters is related to new theoretical insights. Based on this, the paper comes with suggestions for policy makers in governments, businesses and knowledge institutions such as universities. Opening Up is designed to look for a better service to citizens and businesses through the use of social media and open data. The opening-up project started in October 2011 and lasts three years