Modelling systems of innovation:

Abstract

We present a model for describing and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of industrial clusters from a regional perspective. The model is a symmetrical framework combining dimensions of the Porter competitiveness `diamond' with an equally explicit accounting of infrastructure and markets, important in a regional framework. Measures are organized under headings of Groundings, Enterprises and Markets, which gives the model its name: GEM. The characteristics of regional innovation systems are contained in the overall competitiveness framework. The GEM determinants are organized in a way that facilitates subjective scoring and allows a mapping onto a more conventional production-system structure. We have developed scoring criteria for each of the six determinants that relate to overall competitiveness of the cluster and have established an heuristic competitiveness function (GEM Assay) that captures the substitution/complementarity relationships among the determinants. We present some examples of the use of the framework and the assay in assessing regional clusters and policies for strengthening them.