Industry clusters as commercial, knowledge and institutional networks: Opto-electronics in six regions in the UK, USA and

Industry clusters are defined as geographically localized concentrations of firms in the same industry (Swann and Prevezer 1997) or in closely related industries (Porter 1990). Academic research on industry clusters suggests that the strength and dynamism of such clusters are facilitated by university, commercial and governmental relations (Biggiero 1998). Moreover, these relations may be located within local, national and international networks. Industry clusters may thus vary by both the extent to which they are supported by university, commercial and governmental cooperative ties, and by the extent to which these ties are locally, nationally or internationally patterned.