Carnegie Mellon Reviews University-Cluster Interrelationship

A study released last week by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic Development finds that, within a region, universities are best able to affect the growth of young, emerging clusters. The study, Universities and the Development of Industry Clusters, concludes a "university must have a large base of research and development in order to significantly impact a cluster..."

For a university to have the maximum benefit for local cluster development, the institution must align services and community involvement with regional interests and industry clusters across a broad spectrum, not just in terms of technical knowledge and R&D. In other words, the university needs to actively address business, workforce and community issues in addition to developing an exceptional research capacity.

Industry clusters occur when the markets interconnect a number of companies in a geographic region they serve and products they produce, according to the study. Efforts to support the growth of industry clusters are known as cluster development.

"Cluster development has emerged as a leading strategy to spur economic growth," said Jerry Paytas, associate director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Economic Development and a co-author of the study. "It puts enormous pressure on universities to be an engine for economic development, when the path from university research to regional economic benefit is not simple or direct."

Clusters play an important role in determining the potential economic impact of universities' research and cluster-supporting activities, the authors say.

"Clusters that are externally, rather than regionally organized and oriented may even facilitate the diffusion of university derived benefits outside the region," they argue. "The university can produce the seeds of new firms and industries, but the region must offer a fertile climate for them to flourish."

The study profiled industry clusters in and around the University of Michigan, Wright State University, New Mexico State University, Lehigh University, West Virginia University, Virginia Polytechnic University, the University of Northern Iowa, and Florida State University.

Universities and the Development of Industry Clusters is available at:  http://www.eda.gov/Research/ResearchReports.xml