ABSTRACT
Generally, the term “cluster” refers to a grouping of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together (Malmberg, 2009). Although clusters are often presented in terms of ubiquitous creativity and global communications, they are very much rooted in particular places (O'Connor and Gu, 2010). This approach expands and complements the economic approach to clusters, which views a cluster as a “concentrated density of firms within a geographic region” (Donaldson et al., 2018: 56),characterized by a particular product or service, and often developing hierarchical relationships with other clusters that can span the world (Brown and Mczyski, 2009; Hutton, 2006; Rantisi et al., 2006). Economic perspectives on clusters tend to stress collaboration based on the triple helix model, which emphasizes the interactions among three key stakeholders: universities, industries, and governments (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1995; Etzkowitz, 2012). The triple helix is considered a means to enhance cluster social networks that encourage: (1) cross-sector relationships among academia, industry, and government; (2) cross-scale relationships among new entrepreneurs and larger established firms, as well as other, smaller firms; and (3) up- and downstream relationships between suppliers and producers (Hatuka et al., 2017).
