Why are there so few hard facts about the impact of cluster policies in Germany? A critical review of evaluation studies

Michael Rothgang,Anne-Marie Scholz,Bernhard Lageman

doi:10.1007/s43253-021-00034-7

Abstract

Based on empirical findings on the effects of cluster policies in Germany, this paper scrutinises the available knowledge on cluster policies impact. There is a growing body of insights on direct effects of policy measures on cluster actors, cluster organisations and innovation networks of the promoted clusters. For some industries such as biotechnology, there are indications that cluster policies had a substantial influence on the formation of new firms and emerging sectoral structures. While the available information seems to support the hypothesis that cluster policies can provide positive impulses for the development of clusters, the actual knowledge on far-reaching impacts of cluster policies on economic structures and processes is still rather limited. The paper asks for the reasons of this knowledge gap between expectations placed in cluster policies and the available evidence on their impact. We identify five reasons: (i) problems in addressing the systemic nature of cluster policy interventions and their effects, (ii) deficiencies regarding the methodologies used, (iii) a lacking informational basis, (iv) practical contexts (e.g., a lack of interest of policy makers) leading to deficiencies in incentive mechanisms and (v) the limited transferability of evaluation results to other cluster policy contexts. For future evaluations, we propose among others the use of system-related approaches to impact analyses based on mixed-method designs as well as comparative case studies based on new methods like process tracing. In order to improve the incentives for evaluators, an increasing awareness of policy makers about the relevance of evaluation studies would be important.

Highlights

In recent years, the calls from many areas of public policy for a rigorous evidencebasing have been getting louder (e.g. Haskins and Baron 2011; Boockmann et al 2014; Burda et al 2014)
Among the contractors of commissioned evaluation projects, the main actors are publiclyfinanced independent economic and innovation research institutes, a circle of private-sector consulting firms that specialised in innovation and technology policy topics and are active at either the national or European level, and national branches of global consulting companies
Our analysis shows that the research literature on cluster policies in Germany delivers important insights on selected cluster programmes, and on single aspects of the consequences of their implementation

Summary

Introduction

The calls from many areas of public policy for a rigorous evidencebasing have been getting louder (e.g. Haskins and Baron 2011; Boockmann et al 2014; Burda et al 2014). While most relevant publications address the issue of knowledge gaps rather casually, some studies try to assess the current state of research on cluster policy impact The authors of these studies, who deal more thoroughly with the issue of impact, are sceptical about the available knowledge on the effects of this type of policy intervention in market processes (Uyarra and Ramlogan 2016; Fornahl et al 2015; Andersson et al 2004; Kiese 2008, 2017; Fromhold-Eisebith and Eisebith 2008a, b; Lindquist et al 2013). This leads to the suspicion that there is a gap between the high expectations placed on cluster policies and the actual knowledge about their impact

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Conclusion