Christophe Guichard and Tshanda Kalombo - From 17 to 19 November 2015, 77 national and regional cluster policy-makers, experts and researchers from both the United States and the European Union gathered in Boston and Washington for a workshop to exchange experiences and best practices on cluster mapping, cluster portals and cluster-based economic development policies.

Read the full report here

The U.S. Cluster Mapping Portal has soft-launched its Region Comparison Tool, which will allow users to directly compare different regions (States, Economic Areas, Metro/Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Counties) across various clusters and indicators. See below for a walkthrough of the process of creating and saving a custom region comparison.

Saleha Riaaz, Digital by Default -- techUK has published its manifesto titled ‘Securing our Digital Future: the techUK manifesto for growth and jobs 2015-2020, where it urges politicians and policy-makers to recognise the critical significance of the global digital revolution. Here is our pick of the five most important recommendations in the manifesto.

Adam Belz -- Michael Porter was in the Twin Cities on Monday talking about regional clusters, American stagnation and the country's failed economic development efforts. He was helping roll out Cluster Mapping, which he, the U.S. Department of Commerce and many others hope will be a tool for better economic development policy. For the purposes of this blog, here are five takeaways from Porter's presentation, and from the data:

1.  Most Americans are struggling in the economy and it's not because of the recession.

Adam Belz -- Economic development efforts in the U.S. have typically focused on cutting taxes and regulation, or giving incentives to individual companies. None of this works, according to Michael Porter, a strategist at Harvard Business School who spoke Monday at the University of Minnesota. What drives high-wage job growth, higher patenting rates and economic resiliency is industry clusters, Porter said, and government should be investing in them by helping to launch training initiatives, for instance.

MINNEAPOLIS—Michael E. Porter, Harvard’s Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School, launched the new U.S. Cluster Mapping tool this morning in Minneapolis as part of a two-day conference called Mapping the Midwest’s Future and held by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

A unique new tool based on pathbreaking research led by Michael E. Porter, Harvard’s Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School, has been created to provide detailed data on the presence of “clusters” -- regional concentrations of related industries – and the profiles of regional economies throughout the United States.

The RENACER program and framework consists of highly customizable and practical training programs, prepared and delivered by the specialized institutions and individual stakeholders collaborating with the program, which will:

On July 29 and 30, 2014, the LMI Institute held its latest training session in Sacramento, CA. The training covered two different economic analysis topics: Cluster Mapping and the Basics of Economic Impact Analysis. Over twenty participants spent two days learning about these topics through a variety of presentations, group exercises and other interactive activities. On July 29th, Sarah Jane Maxted and Jenny Zhao of Harvard Business School instructed participants about the U.S.

The homepage of EDA—America’s lead agency on economic development—was recently updated with a definition of “economic development” that might be considered somewhat unorthodox. At first glance, it might not seem strange to the unaided eye.  But notice what it does not say.  It does not say that economic development comes only from constructing roads, bridges, buildings, or other physical infrastructure.  It does not mention the common tactic of recruiting companies to relocate from other regions.