ABSTRACT
Universities and clusters have both become central in economic development fashion
in recent years. Both are also closely linked with a concern for the development of
new industries and new technology-based firms, although the wider implications of
both in economic development terms can be simultaneously overlooked. The cluster
concept in particular has become an almost obligatory element in regional economic
development policies, and its application is now spreading across all scales of
economic policy in both advanced and developing nations. Definitions of clusters
vary greatly, but one approach that has resonance for a number of possible policy
applications is that of a ‘reduced scale innovation system’, as used in a recent OECD
study group (den Hertog, Bergman and Charles, 2001). Using this definition I focus
on clusters as groups of interacting firms and agencies that collectively enhance
innovation performance through acting as a system. This has some resonance with
national innovation systems (Edquist, 1997), but is sectorally or technologically
more focused and usually operates at a territorial scale that is less than national.
