Innovation clusters: how do you make them happen?

In Brussels April 15-16, R&D-news and events service Science|Business is organizing a unique symposium gathering latest thinking in this field from across the world. Academic experts and European Commission officials in innovation, regional development and technology policy are invited to join us to discuss the latest research. The outcome of this thought-provoking exchange of views will be a special report by Science|Business, that will set the stage for a set of specific policy recommendations for publication later in 2008.

What public policies make for a successful innovation cluster - a dynamic community of university researchers, industrial partners, technology investors and growth companies? What makes a Silicon Valley, or a Cambridge, work? 

To what degree are these examples unique, or are there generic lessons to be drawn? These are questions that technology policy-makers have increasingly been asking. A growing body of research by economists, policy analysts and technology companies is starting to produce some preliminary answers.

Certainly, in this field of policy, there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all; all the early attempts, in the 1980s and 1990s, merely to transplant policy ideas from one country to another were spectacular failures. But that doesn't mean that systematic, evidence-based policies are impossible in this field - and indeed, the growth of promising new clusters elsewhere in the world show it's possible for a policy-maker to make informed decisions in this field.