As this report from the NADO Research Foundation illustrates, over the last 30 years South Carolina has developed a flourishing, globally competitive automotive and ground transportation cluster that has become a major engine of economic growth in the state.

Clusters are a key element of technology-based economic growth policy aimed at boosting the nation's technology clusters, which are regional concentrations of technology R&D and production, including pools of skilled labor, research facilities, and partnership mechanisms for research and production scale-up. This economic and policy analysis brief from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency within the U.S.

This study on the Precision Manufacturing Regional Alliance of Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley illustrates how a region can position its roots in a declining industry into strengths for new cluster growth. Located in the western part of Massachusetts, the Pioneer Valley has deep foundations in manufacturing that include textiles, paper, electrical components, and precision machining.

The Southern Governors’ Association, under its 2013 president Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, commissioned the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) to conduct an economic analysis on the value of a regional approach to support the South's advanced manufacturing sector.