Innovation in Clusters. Estelle Vallier

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Innovation in Clusters - Estelle Vallier


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of his cluster concept. He transfers to territories an industrial logic of building assets in a competitive relationship within a market (Porter 1993). Specialization enables a comparative advantage to be put forward. In a capital mobility context, we are witnessing an explosion of competition between territories to attract the most qualified workers and businesses. Advantages are not given, but deliberately constructed (Carré and Levratto 2011, p. 360). From the point of view of economic development policies, this implies a shift from a territorial policy focused on local redistribution issues to a policy focused on externalities and attractiveness issues (Béhar et al. 2013, p. 20).

      The capacity of a localized and institutional social system to guarantee accumulation processes in its territory, to maintain economic activities there, to develop and protect its natural resources and technological achievements and to guarantee social peace. Territorial regulation thus results from the necessity to regulate the conditions through which sectors are deployed and resources are allocated (Laurent and Du Tertre 2008, p. 15).

      In this context, the public actor must encourage, mobilize, coordinate and structure interactions and resources (Béhar et al. 2013, p. 17). Thus, using the logic of Porter’s comparative advantage, Anna Lee Saxenian questions the difference in development between the American West Coast innovation hub, Silicon Valley, and the East Coast hub, Route 128 (Saxenian 1994). By looking at the structure of the social networks of the two clusters, Saxenian opens the way to an abundance of literature on the role of geographical proximity, on the typology of commercial and scientific exchanges and on the place of non-market interindividual relations in the coordination of actors (Lanciano-Morandat et al. 2009, p. 178).

      The end of the 20th century saw the emergence of a craze for valleys conducive to industrial and technological development, thanks in particular to the informal links forged by geographical proximity.

      1.3.1. Informal links in the heart of Silicon Valley

      In the eastern United States, Route 128 is more composed of significant autarkical structures and the links between individuals are therefore characterized by a principle of corporate loyalty (Saxenian 2000). In the relationships between businesses, customers and suppliers, individuals refer first and foremost to the vertical hierarchy of the organization to which they belong, before circulating information horizontally between firms. For Saxenian, the performance of Silicon Valley, or its advantage, to use Porter’s terminology, depends on local social and institutional determinants, such as professional or commercial organizations, far more than economic and fiscal factors (wage differentials, real estate costs, local taxes). For example, The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International or The Software Entrepreneur’s Forum organize meetings, dinners, seminars and training courses and participate in the creation of these social networks (Grossetti 2004, p. 170). From this point on, we can observe how interactions embedded in a given framework (in this case the businesses in the Valley) can be decoupled in another context (professional association, for example).

      1.3.2. The relational logic essential to geographical proximity


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