ABSTRACT
Maritime clusters can contribute significantly to responsible ocean governance and the blue economy. The Polish maritime economy, with about 12,000 enterprises, is an important part of the blue sector in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). A strong economy in Europe needs a strong and sustainable maritime sector and by forging connections between science, education and business, maritime clusters can help make this happen. The Danish Maritime Cluster (DKMK) funded a benchmarking analysis in 2012 to measure its competencies against a range of internationally known and respected maritime clusters. The maritime clusters in the analysis operate under very different political governance structures, which influence the degree of involvement of the public sector in the support of maritime cluster activities. A common feature of the maritime clusters in the analysis is the prevalence of higher education. In addition, general scientific disciplines can be applied in many companies within the maritime industry.
