Sharpen existing tools or get a new toolbox? Contemporary cluster initiatives and regional transformation

This paper explores the evolving landscape of regional innovation policy, focusing on the interplay between traditional cluster policies and emerging transformative agendas. Over the past decade, policy initiatives aimed at fostering place-based, collaborative innovation have proliferated. However, questions arise regarding the adequacy of existing policy tools in accommodating newer, transformative agendas. Cluster policies, as one of the oldest and most pervasive tools in regional economic development, warrant particular scrutiny in this context. Through a review of cluster policy research and input from a participatory working session with a network of policy practitioners and cluster initiative managers at the annual global conference of TCI Network, we identify examples of contemporary cluster initiatives and explore how cluster policies are adapting in the face of the evolving innovation paradigm. By characterizing the expanding toolbox of place-based collaborative innovation policies and examining the interaction between cluster policies and transformative agendas, the paper reflects on the potential for delivering on system-level change and provides insights into how cluster policies can be refined to better align with and support transformative regional agendas.