ABSTRACT
The topic that is addressed in this book is a quite complex one. Therefore, different approaches have been used to answer the questions of why local industrial clusters exist and when and where they emerge. It is impossible to give final answers to these questions within one book. However, some new insights have been added to those already existing in the literature. This chapter offers an overview of the knowledge about local industrial clusters that has been obtained in the literature and in this book, a discussion of the political implications and a list of some important questions that are still not answered. In Section 5.1, what we know about when, where and why local industrial clusters emerge is summarised. The political implications of the knowledge about local industrial clusters are discussed in Section 5.2. Finally, Section 5.3 puts forward some open questions that should be addressed in future research.
