Competitive Regional Clusters
National Policy Approaches

In today’s globalising world, the regional specialisations built up over decades are transforming rapidly. Many regions that were historically production centres in a given sector are losing out to lower-cost locations and reorienting to higher value-added niches. National programmes to promote cluster-based approaches -- linking firms, people and knowledge at a regional level -- are being used to meet the challenge. This report analyses the objectives, targeting, instruments and inter-governmental role sharing used by 26 programmes in 14 OECD countries. It will be of interest to policy makers, researchers, firms and others active in promoting innovation and competitiveness.
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France
This chapter is a case study on two programmes in France with a cluster-based approach. The SPL programme began in the late 1990s and supports networking among small firms in French industrial districts. The more recent Pôles de compétitivité programme is France’s main competitiveness policy that supports collaborative industryresearch projects in both “international” and “regional” clusters.
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