Clusters in a Cold Climate: Innovation Dynamics in a Diverse Economy

Abstract

As Canada emerges from the recent economic downturn, both established and emerging industrial clusters face the challenges of meeting rapidly changing demand and cost conditions and increasing national and international competition and financing an accelerating pace of innovation. Clusters in a Cold Climate examines how eight industry clusters across Canada influence the innovative dynamics of their constituent firms by helping them access resources and markets, manage economic uncertainty, and adapt to market changes. Contributors underline a number of key themes: the contribution of both local and global sources of knowledge to innovation within the clusters, the powerful role of external markets in stimulating innovative behaviour, the interaction between key elements of the research infrastructure and innovative firms, and the complex but essential role that various aspects of public policy play in influencing cluster dynamics. The contributors to the volume are members of the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN), a national research network funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. They include John N. H. Britton (University of Toronto), Catherine Chevrier (Universite du Quebec a Montreal), Nicola Crowden (Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology), Susan Fitzgibbon (Queen's University), Haeli Goertzen (researcher), Adam Holbrook (Simon Fraser University), John Holmes (Queen's University), Melanie Keroack, Pradeep Kumar (Queen's University), Rejean Landry (Laval University), Gerry Legara (Brock University), Matthew Lucas (University of Toronto), Jane McCarthy (Simon Frazer University), Carolan McLarney (Dalhousie University), Lynn K.Mytelka (Carleton University), Mathieu Ouimet (Laval University), Michelle Petrusevich (Center for Policy Research on Science and Technology), Shawna Reibling (Centre for Sustainable Communities Canada), Philip Rosson (Dalhousie University), Serge Rousseau (Universite du Quebec a Montreal), Tod Rutherford (Syracuse University), Monica Salazar (Simon Fraser University), Richard Smith (Simon Fraser University), Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay (Universite du Quebec), Katie Warfield (Simon Fraser University), Naomi Weiner (Simon Fraser University), and David A. Wolfe (University of Toronto).

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