Evidencing the benefits of cluster policies: towards a generalised framework of effects

James Wilson, Emily Wise () and Madeline Smith
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Emily Wise: Lund University
Madeline Smith: The Glasgow School of Art

Policy Sciences, 2022, vol. 55, issue 2, No 8, 369-391

Abstract: Abstract Regions around the world employ cluster-based policies as part of their industrial, innovation and development policy mixes. They have become a key tool in smart specialisation strategies and are increasingly used to address societal challenges. Given their popularity and longevity, there is significant demand to better measure and understand the impacts of cluster policies. Yet the diversity of cluster policies employed in different regional competitiveness policy mixes, a complex effect logic and a variety of (mostly intangible) outcomes, and few recognised norms for guiding cluster policy evaluation all hamper a more holistic understanding of their patterns of effects and broader impacts. There lacks a common frame to guide cluster policy evaluation. This paper reviews international evidence on the effects of cluster policy programmes from academic and policy literature, which is then used as an input into a co-creation process with groups of cluster policymakers, practitioners and researchers. The result is a proposal for a generalised framework of effects for cluster policies to support the structuring of cluster policy evaluations and strengthen international policy learning possibilities.

Keywords: Cluster policy; Cluster policy evaluation; Policy learning; Co-creation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s11077-022-09460-8

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