The German Case: A Cluster Under Threat

The German photovoltaic cluster is a prime example of a rapidly grown cluster driven by Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and special funding programmes. The cluster was helped by cross-fertilisation and mobility between chemical and semi-conductor industry clusters in the region, and a strong regional tradition of mechanical engineering as well as a strong R&D culture. Stakeholder interviews and survey perceptions provided particular insights into the external threat of increasing competition from China, as cheap imports threatened local production, and some companies started migrating to low labour-cost countries, taking with them cutting edge know-how developed in the German cluster. This external threat coincided with an internal threat from the rapid reduction in FiTs, which disproportionately penalised those SMEs at the forefront of innovation. Managers felt that they did not have the necessary influence with policymakers to make the rapid and radical changes required to sustain SMEs, and to facilitate faster innovation in response to the external threat. This chapter outlines this and other perceived barriers to the development of the cluster, and their implications.