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Mapping a nation of regional clusters

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      Are you interested in learning more about clusters and conducting action-oriented research? Then follow our Academic or Researcher path.

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  • Cluster
    • Data by Cluster

      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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    • Frequently Asked Questions

      How do I compare different clusters on a national level?

      How do I find my region’s strongest cluster(s)?

      How do I identify which cluster my industry belongs in?

      How do I compare local vs traded clusters?

      Are there overlaps between the clusters?

  • Region
    • 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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    • Frequently Asked Questions

      How do I compare different regions?

      How do I build a region to meet my needs?

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

      How do I find subregions related to my region?

      How do I use the map view to visualize economic data across the country?

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    • Community

      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
Academic Research

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  • U.S. Cluster Mapping
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Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Academic Research

Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation

by William R. Kerr, Journal of Urban Economics March 21, 2014

We investigate the speed at which clusters of invention for a technology migrate spatially following breakthrough inventions. We identify breakthrough inventions as the top 1% of US inventions for a technology during 1975–1984 in terms of subsequent citations. Patenting growth is significantly higher in cities and technologies where breakthrough inventions occur after 1984 relative to peer locations that do not experience breakthrough inventions.

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Academic Research

People, Places and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs

by Patrick Kline and Enrico Moretti, National Bureau of Economic Research March 20, 2014

Most countries exhibit large and persistent geographical differences in wages, income and unemployment rates. A growing class of "place based" policies attempt to address these differences through public investments and subsidies that target disadvantaged neighborhoods, cities or regions. Place based policies have the potential to profoundly affect the location of economic activity, along with the wages, employment, and industry mix of communities. These programs are widespread in the U.S. and throughout the world, but have only recently been studied closely by economists.

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Academic Research

Spatial Organization of Firms and Location Choices through the Value Chain

by Juan Alcacer and Mercedes Delgado, Harvard Business School Working Paper March 19, 2014

We explore the impact of geographically bounded, intra-firm linkages (internal agglomerations) and geographically bounded, inter-firm linkages (external agglomerations) on firms’ location strategies. Using data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Business Database, we analyze the locations of new establishments of biopharmaceutical firms in the U.S. in 1993–2005. We consider all activities in the value chain and allow location choices to vary by R&D, manufacturing, and sales. Our findings suggest that internal agglomerations have a positive impact on location.

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Academic Research

Defining Clusters of Related Industries

by Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter, and Scott Stern, National Bureau of Economic Research March 19, 2014

Clusters are geographic concentrations of industries related by knowledge, skills, inputs, demand, and/or other linkages. A growing body of empirical literature has shown the positive impact of clusters on regional and industry performance, including job creation, patenting, and new business formation. There is an increasing need for cluster-based data to support research, facilitate comparisons of clusters across regions, and support policymakers and practitioners in defining regional strategies.

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Academic Research

Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Million Dollar Plants

by Michael Greenstone, Richard Hornbeck, and Enrico Moretti, National Bureau of Economic Research March 5, 2014

We quantify agglomeration spillovers by estimating the impact of the opening of a large new manufacturing plant on the total factor productivity (TFP) of incumbent plants in the same county. Articles in the corporate real estate journal Site Selection reveal the county where the "Million Dollar Plant" ultimately chose to locate (the "winning county"), as well as the one or two runner-up counties (the "losing counties"). The incumbent plants in the losing counties are used as a counterfactual for the TFP of incumbent plants in winning counties in the absence of the plant opening.

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Academic Research

Clusters and the New Growth Path for Europe

by Christian Ketels and Sergiy Protsiv, WWWforEurope March 5, 2014

This paper outlines elements of a conceptual framework that clarifies the role that clusters play relative to government policies and actions of individual companies in supporting the emergence of "High Road" strategies that lead to better New Growth Path–related outcomes. It then focuses on creating a new set of data that can start shedding light on the empirical relevance of this framework. The first main section of the paper draws on a new set of employment and wage data across European clusters.

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Academic Research

The Development of the Cluster Concept - Present Experiences and Further Developments

by Christian H. M. KetelsNovember 15, 2013

Increasing interest in clusters among researchers and economists is only one aspect of a new approach to economic research and policy, one that supplements the macroeconomic and legal conditions necessary to achieve economic progress with microeconomic foundations. This report presents an overview of the current research on cluster-based economic development. First, it looks at key conceptual foundations of the cluster approach: the definition of clusters, different types of clusters, economic benefits that clusters provide, and factors that influence cluster performance.

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Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Academic Research

Clusters and Entrepreneurship

by Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter, and Scott Stern, U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies November 15, 2013

This paper examines the role of regional clusters in regional entrepreneurship, focusing on the distinct influences of convergence and agglomeration on growth in number of start-ups, as well as employment in such new firms in a given region-industry. While reversion to the mean and diminishing returns to entrepreneurship at the region-industry level can result in a convergence effect, the presence of complementary economic activity creates externalities that enhance incentives and reduce barriers for new business creation.

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Academic Research

The Economic Performance of Regions

by Michael E. Porter, Regional Studies November 15, 2013

This paper examines the regional economic performance, composition of regional economies, and role of clusters in the U.S. economy from 1990 to 2000. 

The performance of regional economies varies markedly in terms of wage, wage growth, employment growth and patenting rate. Based on distribution of economic activity across geography, the paper classifies U.S. industries into traded, local, and resource-dependent categories. Traded industries account for only about one-third of employment, but register much higher wages and rates of innovation and influence local wages. 

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Academic Research

Clusters and the New Economics of Competition

by Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review November 15, 2013

This Harvard Business Review article explains how clusters foster high levels of productivity and innovation and lays out the implications for competitive strategy and economic policy. Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be a source of competitive advantage. Open global markets, rapid transportation, and high-speed communications should allow any company to source any thing from any place at any time.

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Copyright © 2018 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
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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.