This Policy and Impact Study by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, State and Local Policy Program at the University of Minnesota is the second in a series of four developed as part of the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project, an effort supported by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The report illustrates how Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) has benefited from applying a cluster approach as a conceptual framework for diagnosing the regional economy and as a platform for joint action to address the challenges identified. The cluster framework provided public and private regional leaders with a common language for understanding regional competitiveness, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of their dialogue. By organizing the policy discussion around clusters, the programs that were developed became targeted enough to have an effect on the issues that mattered for MSP. The cluster-based approach was first applied in workforce development, but over time has been used in other policy areas as well, including in the creation of a broader regional economic development strategy.

Silicon Valley Competitiveness and Innovation Project (SVCIP) formed to proactively identify a data-driven public policy agenda to enhance and reinforce the region's competitive advantages in innovation, and ensure that Silicon Valley residents have access to the job opportunities and prosperity linked to growth in innovation industries. SVCIP will periodically update the dashboard of indicators and progress on public policy actions. SVCIP is a collaboration of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

We assess a prominent argument for local economic policies that favor locally-owned businesses – namely, that locally-owned firms are more likely to internalize the costs to the community of decisions to reduce employment and hence help to insulate cities from adverse economic shocks. We test this argument by examining how establishment-level employment responses to economic shocks are affected by establishment ownership.

Recent years have seen the rapid emergence of a new type of program aimed at seeding startup companies. These programs, often referred to as accelerators, differ from previously known seed-stage institutions such as incubators and angel groups. While proliferation of such accelerators is evident, evidence on efficacy and role of these programs is scant.

Workshop on Tracking the Dynamics of Network Relations in Industry Clusters
George Washington University
November 7, 2014

An introduction to and assessment of the tools, models, and metrics of network-based cluster analysis. 

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On September 29, 2014, Professor Michael Porter delivered a keynote speech at Mapping the Midwest's Future, a conference held in Minneapolis and hosted by the University of Minnesota that officially launched the new U.S. Cluster Mapping tool. His presentation focused on U.S. competitiveness and cluster-based economic development, to reshape the approach to economic development in the U.S.

With 38,000 workers at more than 170 companies in 22 million square feet of buildings over 7,000 acres, Research Triangle Park is the largest research park in North America. And RTP isn’t just about its big corporate campuses—it has five buildings devoted to start-up ventures, and 60 percent of its companies have 20 employees or fewer. But today’s entrepreneurs, Mr. Geolas said in an interview, want more-inclusive settings where they can meet with one another, share ideas, find new workers, and just enjoy themselves.

This report analyzes the economic competitiveness of rural areas in the United States. It summarizes a selective, interpretative review of the literature on the economic performance, the composition and evolution of rural economies in the United States, the nature of the business environment in rural regions, and evidence on the role of clusters in these areas. It also briefly reviews U.S. policies and recommendations for rural regions, concluding with an interpretation of the state of rural competitiveness and areas for future research.

This study, released in December 2012 by the Institute for Decision Making at the University of Northern Iowa and Iowa Workforce Development, was conducted to provide a better understanding of the workforce needs of industries in Iowa's seven-county Creative Corridor region. The report reveals employment and workforce development needs through a detailed review of the region’s composition, and labor characteristics within 13 primary industry clusters based on key employers in the region. 

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.