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Title: Clusters and less prosperous places: policy options in planning and implementation- [Perpendicular File]

Notes: This document analyses the regional responses to an invitation by the European Commission to develop clusters and business networks which would allow a better understanding of how regional governments in less favoured regions in Europe are planning to use cluster-building as a tool for regional development, in particular in the field of regional innovation. The idea is that it is necessary to help EU regions, less favoured in particular, to develop competitive assets based on innovation rather than leave them to base their regional competitive advantage on costs (particularly wage costs), since such an advantage could be swiftly eliminated in an increasingly globalised economy. The different types of clusters, which the regional governments in less favoured European regions could develop, are i) the traditional business networks and sectoral platforms which collectively design innovation action plans.. Their business cooperation initiatives range from logistics, administrative management and joint marketing to advanced activities such as technology watch, technology acquisition, research, design, etc. ii) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in SMEs as a new tool for facilitating business networking, including the creation of `virtual companies`, joint software solutions, the promotion of B2B internet marketplaces, increased transparency of the availability of business services in the region through electronic one stop shops, shared branch portals, data exchange and process integration among companies iii) a more traditional cluster model related to supply chain integration in the automobile sector.

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