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Mapping a nation of regional clusters

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      A cluster is a regional concentration of related industries that arise out of the various types of linkages or externalities that span across industries in a particular location. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions are designed to enable systemic comparison across regions. View and compare clusters across the U.S.

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      Are there overlaps between the clusters?

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    • Data by Region

      A region is broadly defined as a county, economic area (EA), metro/micropolitan statistical area (MSA), or state. The U.S. Benchmark Cluster Definitions use the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis defined economic areas. View and compare regions across the U.S.

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      How is my region doing, especially in comparison to its peer regions?

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      The Community of Practice enables practitioners to share Resources, post Blogs, and find partner Organizations. View and contribute content of interest to the cluster based economic development community.

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Harvard Business School U.S. Economic Development Administration
Economic Policy

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Cluster
Economic Policy

Responding to Manufacturing Job Loss: What Can Economic Development Policy Do?

by Patricia Atkins, Pamela Blumenthal, Leah Curran, Adrienne Edisis, Alec Friedhoff, Lisa Lowry, Travis St. Clair, Howard Wial, Harold Wolman, Metro Economy Series for the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings November 24, 2014

America has lost millions of manufacturing jobs since 1980, which has been a serious economic blow to many U.S. metropolitan areas.

In response, metros have pursued an array of economic development strategies, some aimed at protecting or enhancing their manufacturing base, others at diversifying their local economies and attracting new kinds of industries, particularly service firms. 

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Economic Policy

Real Banking for the Real Economy: Comparing Sustainable Bank Performance with the Largest Banks in the World

by Global Alliance for Banking on ValuesOctober 27, 2014

Five years after the financial crisis began in earnest with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the negative impact from a damaged banking system on the real economy continues to be felt. Continued stress in the global financial system provides the backdrop to high levels of unemployment, low levels of business borrowing, and unsustainable public finances in many countries. At the same time the impact of climate change increasingly challenges communities coping with a changing environment.

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Cluster
Regional Economy
Economic Policy
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Tools and Technical Documents

U.S. Cluster Mapping Launch Event Presentations: Full Listing

by Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of MinnesotaOctober 6, 2014

Michael E. Porter launched the new U.S. Cluster Mapping tool on September 29, 2014 in Minneapolis as part of a two-day conference called Mapping the Midwest’s Future, held by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The conference hosted over 150 business leaders, policymakers, economic development officials and academics from twelve Midwest states and four Canadian provinces. The Humphrey School of Public Affairs has compiled a full listing of presentations from the conference, with documentation where available.

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Regional Economy
Economic Policy

Going Local: Connecting the National Labs to their Regions for Innovation and Growth

by Scott Andes, Mark Muro, and Matthew Stepp, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, Center for Clean Energy Innovation, and The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation September 10, 2014

Since their inception in the 1940s, the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have been in the vanguard of America’s global research and development leadership. However, the national innovation system has changed in the past 70 years. Today, much technology development and application occurs in the context of synergistic regional clusters of firms, trade associations, educational institutions, private labs, and regional economic development organizations.

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Economic Policy

An Economy Doing Half Its Job: Harvard Business School's 2013-2014 Survey on U.S. Competitiveness

by Michael E. Porter and Jan W. Rivkin, Harvard Business School September 10, 2014

In 2013–14, Harvard Business School (HBS) conducted its third alumni survey on U.S. competitiveness. Our report on the findings focuses on a troubling divergence in the American economy: large and midsize firms have rallied strongly from the Great Recession, and highly skilled individuals are prospering. But middle and working-class citizens are struggling, as are small businesses. We argue that such a divergence is unsustainable, explore its root causes, and examine actions that might mitigate it. We ask in particular, how can we create a U.S.

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Economic Policy

The Evaluation of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Regional Innovation Cluster Initiative, Year Three Report (July 2014)

by Alexandre Monnard, Laura Leete, Jennifer Auer, U.S. Small Business Administration and Optimal Solutions Group, LLC August 5, 2014

The ability of small businesses to drive innovation is critical to U.S. competitiveness. In recognition of the invaluable role small businesses play in the United States innovation ecosystem, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Regional Innovation Cluster (RIC) Initiative in September 2010. This initiative promotes and supports industry clusters—geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers, service providers, and related institutions in a particular industry or field—that have been associated with increased regional economic growth.

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Economic Policy
Tools and Technical Documents

The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access During the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game

by Karen Gordon Mills and Brayden McCarthy, Harvard Business School August 5, 2014

Small businesses are core to America’s economic competitiveness. Not only do they employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce – about 120 million people – but since 1995 they have created approximately two‐thirds of the net new jobs in our country. Yet in recent years, small businesses have been slow to recover from a recession and credit crisis that hit them especially hard. This lag has prompted the question, “Is there a credit gap in small business lending?”  

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Economic Policy

A 2014 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for Lander County

by Frederick Steinmann, Rodney Davis, Thomas Harris, University of Nevada, Reno July 29, 2014

The analysis presented in this Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) provides a detailed profile of Lander County, including the two primary urban areas of Battle Mountain and the Austin/Kingston area, in the current time frame, primarily from 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, as background to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis.  In addition to U.S. Census Bureau data, data from various state and other federal sources were used and incorporated into the demographic and economic analysis of Lander County.

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Economic Policy
Tools and Technical Documents

Strategies for Evaluating Tax Incentives

by The Pew Charitable TrustsJune 26, 2014

A growing number of states are recognizing the importance of evaluating their economic development tax incentives. For example, lawmakers in Indiana, Mississippi, and Rhode Island have recently enacted legislation to ensure their states take three key steps to regularly review and analyze these programs.

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Regional Economy
Economic Policy

Kennebec Valley Economic Development District Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy June 2014 Annual Update

by KVCOG CEDS Committee, Kennebec Valley Economic Development District June 25, 2014

The Kennebec Valley Economic Development District 's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) covering the five year period from 2013 through 2017 incorporates the region’s vision for a robust economy. For the first time the CEDS adopts an asset-based strategy to promote economic growth, to expand prosperity, and to foster both a resilient and sustainable regional economy. It incorporates the goals and performance benchmarks established by the Leadership Team of the Mobilize Maine/Kennebec Valley program in 2012.

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Copyright © 2014 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
All rights reserved.

The U.S. Cluster Mapping Project is led by Professor Michael E. Porter at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School.

This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.