Sborník 2009 díl 2. - Fakulta informatiky a managementu - Univerzita ...

Elżbieta Pohulak-Żołędowska CLUSTERS-SUPPORTING POLICIES IN CHOSEN CENTRAL
AND EASTERN EUROPE COUNTRIES
CLUSTERS-SUPPORTING POLICIES IN CHOSEN CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPE COUNTRIES
Elżbieta Pohulak-Żołędowska
Wrocław University of Economics
e_pohzol@o2.pl
Key words:
Clusters – innovation – cluster policies – economic development
Abstrakt:
Clusters have attracted the interest of policy makers wanting to boost innovation in
industrial growth sectors such as biotechnology and telecommunications, as well as to
generate economic development in disadvantaged localities and regions. Central and
Eastern Europe Countries have common political and economic past which makes them
choose different tools (but not different solutions) to boost development than in
Western Europe countries. As clusters seem to be a good solution for economic
prosperity of regions, those in Central and Eastern Europe need an institutional help to
evolve into the prosperous profitable areas of enterpreneurship.
1. Importance of clusters for economic development of nations
Clusters as “engines” of regional economy have become the most often found solution
for regional development in Central and Eastern Europe Countries as much as in the
Western Europe. Central and Eastern European Countries are the subject of many
national projects which aim in getting them into the cluster-based economic
development. The catchwords to describe the phenomenon of firm agglomeration and
its associated benefits, be it local productive systems, industrial districts, regional or
enterprise clusters, have only recently entered policy dialogue in Central and Eastern
European countries[2, s. 24]. However, clusters have caught the imagination of both
policy makers and entrepreneurs alike as instruments to promote higher productivity
and competitiveness, boost innovation, strengthen SMEs and favour a more equal
regional economic development. Increasingly, clusters are used as components of policy
focused on achieving many economic and social goals. Policy makers, economic
development practitioners and entrepreneurs from Central and Eastern Europe are
looking for ways to share their individual experiences with countries around the world
and exchange views on similarities and differences with the aim of identifying good
cluster policy practice.
The existing research shows that the evolution of clusters can take many years, often
decades. Many clusters have developed without the presence of any dedicated efforts to
upgrade them. The inherent economics of proximity have been enough to over time
attract increasing numbers of companies and other institutions, leading to a
selfreinforcing cycle that was often started by a chance event. But other clusters have
developed much faster because of the determined action of regional leaders that had
spotted the potential of their region for the cluster.[Porter, 1998]
163