Clustering

For the last few years, I've been intrigued by the "cluster" economic development theory, which attributes the growth of economic regions to the concept of a cluster of experts, institutions, and resources in a geographical area.

The foremost expert on this topic (and one who has been working to apply his findings to real communities around the world) is Michael Porter at Harvard. I've also worked with the Toronto-based Innovation Systems Research Network (an amazing group of researchers!).

In this "knowledge-based economy" (the phrase is becoming so cliched...), the concept of the cluster may be either more relevant or less pertinent than ever.

On the other hand, Richard Florida claims that various aspects of geographic regions can be particularly adapted to attract - and effectively cluster - knowledge-based workers (whom Florida dubs the "creative class").

Check out Florida's book on the subject: