Industry Clusters as a Location for Technology Transfer and Innovation

Abstract

The paper draws on a series of case studies of innovation in optoelectronics firms in Wales and the German state of Thuringia, in order to highlight the role of industry clusters in technology transfer and innovation. It begins by analysing relevant features of the industry at the national and regional levels, with the influence of policy on the development of the sector. It then uses data from fourteen cases to show how the focus of innovation and the needs of firms differ in the two regions. From this, a general model is constructed, to show how a localized cluster can contribute to innovation in the younger firm, while the more ‘mature innovator’ looks further afield. However, at a still later stage, the mature innovator may also benefit from the transfer of knowledge in a cluster, as it helps solve the problem of absorbing ‘tacit knowledge’ from ‘distributed R&D’.

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