IS CLUSTER PROMOTION AN OBVIOUS OR COMPLEX ENDEAVOR?

ULRICH HARMES-LIEDTKE

17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

CLUSTERS ARE COMPLEX SYSTEMSNEW PERCEPTION

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CLUSTERS ARE COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Source: MATTA, A. 2012

Cluster emerge, evolve and increase complexity

The cluster community recognizes more and more evolutionary character clusters.

Source: Cluster policy Whitebook,Andersson, Schwaag-Serger et al. 2004

CHARACTERISTICS OF

COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Source:ANDRUS, D.C. 2005

Simple Complicated Complex

Baking a cake Sending a rocket to themoon

Raising a child

Right recipe is essential

Gives the same result every time

Formulas needed

Experience built over time and can be repeated with success

No right recipes or protocols

Outside factors influence

Experience helps, but does not guarantee success

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROBLEMS

In cluster management we treat problems mostly as simple or complicated

WHY COMPLEXITY IS INCREASING?

Move from the industrial era of mass production to the knowledge society

Globalization of people and trade

New challenges in context of climate change, epidemics and wars

In general: increased uncertainty and vulnerability

17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

DEALING WITH CLUSTER COMPLEXITYSENSE MAKING

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NOT EVERYTHING IS COMPLEX

Source: Dave Snowden/ Cognitive Edge

SAFE-TO-FAIL-PROBES

Source:auralab.co.uk

RECIPES AND CHEFS

In complexity the Cluster Manager need to act as a chef

17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

CLUSTER POLICY IMPLICATIONSBEYOND STRATEGIC PLANNING

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Conceptualization ofCluster evolutionResilience refers to the

capacity of firms to respond flexibly to shocks internal and external to a cluster

Resource accumulationrefers to increase productive, knowledge and institutional capital over time

Connectedness refers to the extend of traded and untraded interdependencies between cluster firms

Source: MARTIN, R. & SUNLEY, P. 2011

SERENDIPITY OR

THE "PLEASANT SURPRISE"

Finding something without looking for it.

The Three Princes of Serendip were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.

Alexander Fleming, discovered by accident penicillin (1928)

Source: Robert K. Merton & Elinor Barber, 2006

CLUSTERS, INNOVATION AND POLICY

Clusters have a higher rate of innovation, because knowledge and skills come from localized social networks

Clusters increase probability of accidental discoveries and recombinant innovations

Interventionist policies negate conditions that facilitate the occurrence of serendipitous events

Source: karostech.fi

An alternative is to favor experimentation and provide a favorable environment where emerging clusters can operate successfully

17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

A NEW PARADIGM?CONCLUSIONS

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ARE WE FACINGA NEW PARADIGM?

We need too be more aware of complexity

o be able to identify complex situation

o don’t seek for early consensus

o find simple ways to understand and communicate complex situations

THERE IS NO NEED TO START FROM SCRATCH, BUT…

MOVING IN COMPLEXITY

SHOULDN'T BE COMPLICATED

Source: @gapingvoid