Mind the Gap: Regionale Clusterpolitik im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft, Politik und Praxis aus der Perspektive der Neuen Politischen Ökonomie

Abstract

Mind the Gap: Regional cluster policies between science, politics and practice from a public choice perspective. Since the 1990s, the cluster concept’s ongoing popularity with politicians and economic development practitioners has largely bypassed scientific research which is still struggling to come to grips with theory and empirics of clusters. Based on an interview survey of ten case studies of regional cluster policies at the state and sub-state level in Western Germany, this paper investigates the contribution of scientific cluster research to the current practice of cluster promotion. It is found that following political and bureaucratic rationalities, conceptualisation and implementation of cluster policies largely ignore theoretical insights and make only incomplete use of scientific methods available for proper cluster identification. This has important implications for both practice and research, and highlights that economic geographers should overcome their reluctance to engage with policy and employ their core competencies to make their voices heard in the arena of policy and practice.