ABSTRACT
Over the past few years there has been a growing recognition of the need to move beyond
the static views in the cluster literature and focus more attention on how regional clusters
develop over time. This shift towards a stronger interest in dynamic perspectives has been
accompanied by, and resulted in, a growing popularity of the cluster life-cycle approach.
However, as shown in this paper, the question of how clusters evolve is not new and the
application of life-cycle ideas has a long history in economic geography. The cluster life-
cycle approach has many merits. It has enhanced our understanding of how clusters evolve
and change and what the important driving forces of the long-term development of clusters
are. We have identified several avenues for further enquiry, extending in particular to
regional context-specific factors, the role of human agents and consideration of multi-
scalar influences. Based on this critical assessment we elaborated on several key issues
that deserve due attention in future research on cluster evolution. We focused on three
main tasks. First, we claimed that one of the key challenges is to gain more insights
into the place specificity of cluster evolution by examining how different types of regional
innovation systems shape cluster trajectories. Second, we advanced the argument that a
multi-scalar framework should be adopted to enhance our knowledge about how multiple
factors at various geographical scales and their interdependencies influence cluster devel-
opment. Third, we have identified the need to obtain a better understanding of the role of
human agents and of how long-term cluster evolution is shaped by their activities.
