Layers aims to serve members of SME Clusters. In Layers, two large and strategic sectors for Europe have been chosen as the focus audience, which allow Layers to scale up on a large group of users: from the Health and the Construction sector clusters.

Definition of “clusters”

“Clusters are defined by the co-location of producers, services providers, educational and research institutions, financial institutions and other private and government institutions related through linkages of different types. There is huge diversity among clusters: they differ in terms of their stage of development along the cluster life cycle; some are networks of SMEs, some are organized around key anchor firms, and yet others have developed around universities….

Innovation is increasingly characterised as an open process, in which many different actors—companies, customers, investors, universities, and other organisations—cooperate in a complex ways. Ideas move across institutional boundaries more frequently. The traditional linear model of innovation with clearly assigned roles for basic research at the university, and applied research in a company R&D centre, is no longer relevant. Innovation can benefit from geographic proximity which facilitates the flows of tacit knowledge and the unplanned interactions that are critical parts of the innovation process. This is one of the reasons why innovation occurs locally whereas its benefits spread more widely through productivity gains.

Clusters may embody the characteristics of the modern innovation process: they can be considered as “reduced scale innovation systems”7. Successful clusters encapsulate all the activities needed to deliver a particular value to customers; they cross the traditional definitions of industries and of manufacturing versus services. They can emerge even where companies’ locations are not determined by the location of markets or natural resources. Their specific nature, including their spatial coverage, differs according to technology, market conditions, and other factors that influence the geographic extent and relative strength of
linkages…. ”

Text taken from: Innovation clusters in Europe – A statistical analysis and overview of current policy support”

Related articles:

• [EU 2007] Innovation clusters in Europe – A statistical analysis and overview of current policy support.
• [NESTA 2010] Creative clusters and innovation – Putting creativity on the map
• [Nibedita 2011] The power of clustering and HRM as a source of competitive advantage
• [Shakya 2009] Clusters for competitiveness – A practical guide and policy implications for developing cluster initiatives
• [Gascon 2010] Clusters y competitividad – El caso de Cataluña (1993-2010)
• [Hart 2000] Innovation clusters – Key concepts
• [Lammer 2011] Clusters are individuals
• [Köcker 2012] Clusters in emerging industries
• [Ketels 2004] European clusters
• [Ketels 2003] The Development of the cluster concept – present experiences and further developments
• [Ketels 2008] From clusters to cluster-based economic development
• [Sölvell 200x] The cluster initiative greenbook
• [Aydogan 2008] Social capital and business development in high-technology clusters – An analysis of contemporary U.S. agglomerations
• [Sonobe 2010] Cluster-based industrial development – A comparative study of Asia and Africa
• [OECD 2009] Clusters, innovation and entrepreneurship
• [Pitelis 2006] Clusters and globalisation – The development of urban and regional economies