Göran Lindqvist

Industrial specialization and regional clusters in the ten new EU member states

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of regional concentration patterns within ten new European Union (EU) member states, EU10, and make comparisons with EU15 and the US economy.Design/methodology/approach – Industrial specialization and clusters are measured as employment in the intersection between a sector (three‐digit NACE data) and a particular region (NUTS 2 level), with a total of 38 sectors and 41 regions within EU10. Regional cluster size and degree of specialization is measured along 3D: absolute number of employees (>10,000 jobs is used as cut‐off for a regional cluster), degree of specialization (regional sector employment is at least two times expected levels) and degree of regional market labor dominance (>3 per cent of total employment in a particular sector). Each of these three measures of cluster size, specialization and labor market focus are classified with a “star”. The largest and most specialized clusters receive three stars.Findings – EU10 exhibits 19 three...

Seeing Eye-to-eye: How do Public and Private Sector Views of a Biotech Cluster and its Cluster Initiative Differ?

Abstract As clusters have developed from an analytical concept into a key policy tool, numerous cluster initiatives, or collaborative organizations designed to enhance the competitiveness of clusters, have been implemented across the globe. However, while research on clusters is abundant, research specifically focusing on these emerging organizations is scant to date. This paper analyzes one such cluster initiative and its cluster, and in particular examines to what degree the public and private sectors (1) have the same understanding of the clusters competitiveness and underlying strengths and weaknesses and (2) what activities the cluster initiative should conduct.