IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jknowl/v15y2024i2d10.1007_s13132-023-01481-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying Clusters as Local Innovation Systems

Author

Listed:
  • George Christopoulos

    (United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT))

  • René Wintjes

    (United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT))

Abstract

This paper introduces an indicator for identifying innovation clusters that transcend traditional sectoral taxonomies and integrate the creation and use of knowledge in regional economic systems. Such clusters can be expected, based on the literature, to provide fertile ground for feedback mechanisms between knowledge supply and demand, hence contributing to circular cumulative growth dynamics through interactive learning. However, when it comes to operationalising the study of innovation, the creation and use of knowledge have been treated as distinct processes in related work. It is this gap that this paper seeks to address. Applying principal component analysis on location quotients of manufacturing employment data and patent microdata for 152 EU regions, we generate a mapping of co-located innovation-related activity that highlights the complex techno-economic structures of regional economies. Our analysis reveals clusters which include industries traditionally labelled as ‘high-tech’, as well as clusters that reflect centuries-old trajectories of geographically concentrated production specialisation. This research sheds new light on the co-location of innovation-related activity in regional economies and provides insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to foster innovation and economic development in the context of evolving knowledge and production eco-systems.

Suggested Citation

  • George Christopoulos & René Wintjes, 2024. "Identifying Clusters as Local Innovation Systems," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 9784-9823, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:15:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s13132-023-01481-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s13132-023-01481-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13132-023-01481-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13132-023-01481-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klepper, Steven, 2010. "The origin and growth of industry clusters: The making of Silicon Valley and Detroit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 15-32, January.
    2. Luciana Lazzeretti & Silvia Rita Sedita & Annalisa Caloffi, 2014. "Founders and disseminators of cluster research," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 21-43, January.
    3. André Lorentz & Maria Savona, 2009. "Evolutionary micro-dynamics and changes in the economic structure," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Jean-Luc Gaffard & Lionel Nesta (ed.), Schumpeterian Perspectives on Innovation, Competition and Growth, pages 137-160, Springer.
    4. Thomas Kemeny & Michael Storper, 2015. "Is Specialization Good for Regional Economic Development?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(6), pages 1003-1018, June.
    5. Michael Porter, 2003. "The Economic Performance of Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 549-578.
    6. W. Rupert Maclaurin, 1953. "The Sequence from Invention to Innovation and Its Relation to Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 67(1), pages 97-111.
    7. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    8. Christian Ketels & Sergiy Protsiv, 2013. "Clusters and the New Growth Path for Europe. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 14," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46866.
    9. Cowan, Robin & Jonard, Nicolas, 2004. "Network structure and the diffusion of knowledge," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1557-1575, June.
    10. Patrick Chorley, 1987. "The cloth exports of Flanders and northern France during the thirteenth century: a luxury trade?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 40(3), pages 349-379, August.
    11. Beaudry, Catherine & Schiffauerova, Andrea, 2009. "Who's right, Marshall or Jacobs? The localization versus urbanization debate," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 318-337, March.
    12. Mercedes Delgado, 2020. "The co-location of innovation and production in clusters," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(8), pages 842-870, September.
    13. Tianlan Fu & Chun Yang & Lixun Li, 2020. "Market imperative and cluster evolution in China: evidence from Shunde," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 244-255, February.
    14. Mercedes Delgado & Michael E. Porter & Scott Stern, 2016. "Defining clusters of related industries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-38.
    15. Jensen, Morten Berg & Johnson, Bjorn & Lorenz, Edward & Lundvall, Bengt Ake, 2007. "Forms of knowledge and modes of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 680-693, June.
    16. Glenn Ellison & Edward L. Glaeser & William R. Kerr, 2010. "What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 1195-1213, June.
    17. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    18. K. J. Arrow, 1971. "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: F. H. Hahn (ed.), Readings in the Theory of Growth, chapter 11, pages 131-149, Palgrave Macmillan.
    19. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2003. "Deconstructing clusters: chaotic concept or policy panacea?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 5-35, January.
    20. Andrea Morrison & Roberta Rabellotti & Lorenzo Zirulia, 2013. "When Do Global Pipelines Enhance the Diffusion of Knowledge in Clusters?," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(1), pages 77-96, January.
    21. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma & Joan Crespo & David L. Rigby, 2019. "Smart specialization policy in the European Union: relatedness, knowledge complexity and regional diversification," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(9), pages 1252-1268, September.
    22. Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2007. "The establishment-size wage premium: evidence from European countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 34(5), pages 427-451, December.
    23. repec:taf:entreg:v:23:y:2011:i:3-4:p:235-257 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. André Lorentz & Maria Savona, 2008. "Evolutionary Micro-dynamics and Changes in the Economic Structure," Working Papers hal-00279238, HAL.
    25. Cooke, Phil, 2005. "Regionally asymmetric knowledge capabilities and open innovation: Exploring 'Globalisation 2'--A new model of industry organisation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1128-1149, October.
    26. Schumpeter, Joseph A., 1947. "The Creative Response in Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 149-159, November.
    27. Edward Feser & Edward Bergman, 2000. "National Industry Cluster Templates: A Framework for Applied Regional Cluster Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19.
    28. Anne Ter Wal & Ron Boschma, 2011. "Co-evolution of Firms, Industries and Networks in Space," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 919-933.
    29. Claudius Graebner & Jakob Hafele, 2020. "The emergence of core-periphery structures in the European Union: a complexity perspective," ICAE Working Papers 113, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    30. Sara Cruz & Aurora Teixeira, 2010. "The Evolution of the Cluster Literature: Shedding Light on the Regional Studies-Regional Science Debate," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(9), pages 1263-1288.
    31. E. Carayannis & E. Grigoroudis, 2014. "Linking innovation, productivity, and competitiveness: implications for policy and practice," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 199-218, April.
    32. Romer, Paul M, 1987. "Growth Based on Increasing Returns Due to Specialization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 56-62, May.
    33. Richard R. Nelson, 1959. "The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(3), pages 297-297.
    34. Elisa Giuliani, 2005. "The Structure of Cluster Knowledge Networks Uneven, not Pervasive and Collective," DRUID Working Papers 05-11, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    35. Martin Srholec & Bart Verspagen, 2012. "The Voyage of the Beagle into innovation: explorations on heterogeneity, selection, and sectors," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(5), pages 1221-1253, October.
    36. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    37. André Lorentz & Maria Savona, 2009. "Evolutionary micro-dynamics and changes in the economic structure," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Jean-Luc Gaffard & Lionel Nesta (ed.), Schumpeterian Perspectives on Innovation, Competition and Growth, pages 137-160, Springer.
    38. Carlo Corradini & Enrico Vanino, 2022. "Path dependency, regional variety and the dynamics of new firm creation in rooted and pioneering industries [The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 631-651.
    39. Kevin Morgan, 1997. "The Learning Region: Institutions, Innovation and Regional Renewal," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 491-503.
    40. Pla-Barber, José & Alegre, Joaquín, 2007. "Analysing the link between export intensity, innovation and firm size in a science-based industry," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 275-293, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nadezhda Shmeleva & Tatyana Tolstykh & Viktoria Krasnobaeva & Diana Boboshko & Denis Lazarenko, 2024. "Network Integration as a Tool for Sustainable Business Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-25, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Delgado, Mercedes & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2014. "Clusters, convergence, and economic performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1785-1799.
    2. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissensintensive Unternehmensdienste, Wissens-Spillovers und regionales Wachstum. Teilprojekt 1: Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung – Welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert das Wach," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 58342.
    3. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    4. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    5. Abbasiharofteh, Milad & Kogler, Dieter F. & Lengyel, Balázs, 2023. "Atypical combinations of technologies in regional co-inventor networks," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(10), pages 1-1.
    6. Robert Huggins & Piers Thompson, 2015. "Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional growth: a network theory," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 103-128, June.
    7. Hervas Oliver,Jose Luis & Gonzalez,Gregorio & Caja,Pedro, 2014. "Clusters and industrial districts: where is the literature going? Identifying emerging sub-fields of research," INGENIO (CSIC-UPV) Working Paper Series 201409, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV).
    8. Bahar, Dany & Rosenow, Samuel & Stein, Ernesto & Wagner, Rodrigo, 2019. "Export take-offs and acceleration: Unpacking cross-sector linkages in the evolution of comparative advantage," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 48-60.
    9. Nils Grashof & Dirk Fornahl, 2020. "To be or not to be located in a cluster? A descriptive meta-analysis of the firm-specific cluster effect," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2020-01, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    10. Nils Grashof & Dirk Fornahl, 2021. "“To be or not to be” located in a cluster?—A descriptive meta-analysis of the firm-specific cluster effect," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 67(3), pages 541-591, December.
    11. Speldekamp, Daniël & Knoben, Joris & Saka-Helmhout, Ayse, 2020. "Clusters and firm-level innovation: A configurational analysis of agglomeration, network and institutional advantages in European aerospace," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    12. Mercedes Delgado & Michael E. Porter & Scott Stern, 2016. "Defining clusters of related industries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-38.
    13. Lu, Ren & Ruan, Min & Reve, Torger, 2016. "Cluster and co-located cluster effects: An empirical study of six Chinese city regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 1984-1995.
    14. Stefano Breschi & Camilla Lenzi, 2015. "The Role of External Linkages and Gatekeepers for the Renewal and Expansion of US Cities' Knowledge Base, 1990-2004," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 782-797, May.
    15. Grashof, Nils, 2020. "Putting the watering can away Towards a targeted (problem-oriented) cluster policy framework," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/4, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    16. Reinhold Kosfeld & Mirko Titze, 2014. "Benchmark Value Added Chains and Regional Clusters in German R&D Intensive Industries," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201437, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    17. Randall Jackson, 2015. "Are Industry Clusters and Diversity Strange Bedfellows?," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 113-129, Fall.
    18. Adam Whittle & Balázs Lengyel & Dieter F. Kogler, 2020. "Understanding Regional Branching Knowledge Diversification via Inventor Collaboration Networks," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2006, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2020.
    19. repec:elg:eechap:14395_12 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Li, Yang & Neffke, Frank M.H., 2024. "Evaluating the principle of relatedness: Estimation, drivers and implications for policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    21. Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Ron Boschma, 2021. "Complementary interregional linkages and Smart Specialisation: an empirical study on European regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(6), pages 1059-1070, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jknowl:v:15:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s13132-023-01481-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.