Titel presentatie[Naam, organisatienaam]

Working Day - Track: Managing learning networksCluster development success factors

Christine Doel

Insights from the UK’s Golden Triangle

Cluster Development Success Factors: Insights from the UK’s Golden TriangleChristine Doel

Situating the clusters: UK Golden Triangle3

Cambridge, Oxford and London…

World class universities – University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, UCL, Imperial College, etc.

London World CitySignificant clusters in key knowledge-based sectors:

Bioscience IT and digital Space

But can policy shape clusters across the geography?

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Budget 2016 – and George Osborne’s letter to Lord Adonis, March 2016

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Environmental and planning constraints…6

Cambridge

Oxford

Milton KeynesNorthampton

LONDON

…and the major road/rail routes7

A different cluster from the Golden Triangle8

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Back to the start....

Porter’s definition of clusters – from the late 1990s – remains the one that is most frequently used:

“geographical concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field”

Within this context: individual businesses and institutions collaborate and compete… …with shared rules and conventions… leading to trust… and

creating knowledge “in the air” …and some level of spatial proximity

So clusters are both a form of industrial organisation and a statement about a local economy…

…they are not a necessary assertion about “scale” or future growth potential

In a distinct spatial context (i)10

In a distinct spatial context (ii)11

In a distinct spatial context (iii)12

1: Building knowledge “in the air”

This is the process through which HPTM people and HPTM businesses have been created

“Turbulent” but “conservative” – and the role of Cosworth perhaps stands out…

…but the cluster as a whole has trained people and institutional responses have emerged (e.g. NCM)

Development of shared rules and conventions – and “an obsessive madness about making things better in zero time”

We observed that: This process is as active today as it has been historically It is defining both larger and well-known companies and much

smaller and newer ones

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2: Innovation and adaptation

HPTM cluster is intrinsically innovative – both organisationally and technologically

“When technology is uncertain and changing quickly, trust is really important”

Institutional responses include testing facilities and, latterly, the Transport Systems Catapult in MK

Motorsport is a “valley of death asset” – always at the prototype stage with applications always elsewhere...

The range of applications is substantial, e.g.: additive manufacturing → aerospace, architecture computational fluid dynamics → competitive cycling,

pharmaceuticals, energy kinetic energy recovery systems → automotive

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3: Financing, networks and growth

Major paradoxes: sponsorship linked to Formula One – but Formula One teams

can be “terrible customers” – and part of the reason for diversification is to smooth business cycles

outside of Formula One, the “hand to mouth” existence of smaller companies is notable – entrepreneurs starting businesses from savings/redundancy payments and then trying to grow them through cashflow

apparently few/no serial investors – despite the strength of the cluster

Businesses that are succeeding in growing appear to be adopting very different financing models

Does this suggest a market failure – or a market signal? Institutional responses have been limited to date…

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4: Local and global

Some of the HPTM businesses are both firmly part of the cluster whilst also strongly outward facing

Several examples of firms which rely on exports for >80% of their business… crucial in terms of wealth creation for UK plc

The labour market also has strong international dimensions – the HPTM cluster is a magnet for those with an interest internationally

Institutional responses are in place – particularly through the role of Cranfield University

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Conclusions – looking inside the cluster

The HPTM cluster is a key asset… businesses within the cluster must grow: Global imperative: technology and know-how with huge potential

application – particularly with emerging paradigms driven by low carbon imperatives and big data possibilities

Local imperative: for the area “within about 30 minutes of Silverstone”, high value economic growth must accompany substantial housing growth

The HPTM cluster is “mature” in relation to M and “under development” in relation to HPT applications

In relation to HPT, there is a need to evolve: businesses – the nature of their growth ambitions and the

shared rules and conventions institutional responses – being careful not to conflate HPT and M

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Conclusions – looking more broadly

We found – actually without looking – examples of knowledge-rich collaborations between firms/institutions in the centre and one of the “ends” (e.g. Cosworth, Delta/YASA, KWSP/Cambridge inkjet printing) What more might be possible if the transport infrastructure made this

easy rather than difficult…………… Cranfield University has substantial expertise that should

complement the science-based spin-outs/businesses in Oxford and Cambridge

Oxford and (to a lesser extent) Cambridge are both stretched and struggling in terms of governance and both are surrounded by green belt; conversely, Milton Keynes is really “up for it”

But can a “single knowledge intensive cluster that competes on a global stage” function without world class connectivity?

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Contact

Christine Doel

Director

SQW

t. +44 1223 209400

e. cmdoel@sqw.co.uk

w. www.sqw.co.uk