Cluttered up by clusters

Innovation clusters are "one of the greatest assets EU companies have," says David White, Director for innovation policy at DG Enterprise and Industry. He was speaking at an event on the the final day of the European Business Summit (EBS) with the grandiose title 'European innovation clusters: turning local strengths into global achievements'.

 

Fortunately, not everyone is starry eyed about clusters. The report of the event tells us that Christian Ketels, an expert on clusters from Harvard business school, warned that "Clusters are certainly not a solution to the lack of political ability." But he still believes in them for Europe.

 

"Innovation is more geographically oriented, with spikes of activity on the map. They change the ways companies think about innovation. It is about outcomes. Clusters do provide an environment to turn ideas into products."

 

Our question is about the size of those clusters. Boston may be everyone favourite role model, but the geographical spread of the region is on an American scale. Europe is a lot smaller. It runs the risk of scattering tiny clusters so thinly that you have to question how many of them can hope to achieve critical mass.