Cluster Genesis: Technology-Based Industrial Development

Clusters - regional concentrations of related firms and organizations - are seen as an important element of economic growth and innovation. But there is little understanding of how clusters come into existence, and little guidance provided on the role of policies in promoting this. Cluster Genesis focuses on these early origins of clusters.

Pontus Braunerhjelm earned his Ph D at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, in 1994. His research centers around issues related to entrepreneurship, knowledge, localization and industrial dynamics and growth. His has published extensively in journals and also contributed to several books internationally published. In 2000 he participated in the CEPR Monitoring European Integration report (with co-authors R. Faini, V. Norman, F. Ruane and P. Seabright). Pontus Braunerhjelm is presently heading two larger research projects: One on endogenous growth and entrepreneurship and the other on microeconomic dynamics within Europe. He has been a regular participant in the 'wise men' group of economists that annually evaluates the Swedish economy and presents policy recommendations (SNS Economic Policy Group). Presently Pontus Brauerhjelm holds Leif Lundbad's chair in international business and entrepreneurship at The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Maryann Feldman is the Jeffery S. Skoll Chair in Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Business Economics at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Prior to joining Rotman, Dr. Feldman held the position of Policy Director for Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering and prior to that she was a research scientist at the Institute on Policy Studies at the University. Dr. Feldman is on the Advisory Panel for the U.S. National Science Foundation's Program on Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science and Technology. Her research and teaching interests focus on the areas of innovation, the commercialization of academic research and the factors that promote technological change and economic growth. A large part of Dr. Feldman's work concerns the geography of innovation - investigating the reasons why innovation clusters spatially and the mechanisms that support and sustain industrial clusters.