Understanding evolution in the Antwerp chemical cluster: the role of regional development strategies

Research on regional economic development increasingly embraces more nuanced perspectives on the evolution of clusters, industries and agglomerations. The extent to which the emergence and decline of clusters can be directed with intentional regional development strategies is, however, a major point of discussion. The article links the cluster life cycle concept to regional development strategies in order to examine the trajectory of Europe’s largest chemical complex in and around the Port of Antwerp (Belgium). This chemical cluster has matured and currently is in a state of stability. Although the cluster did not experience growth over the last decades in terms of new entrants, it did transform internally and maintained its importance as a production centre. Thus, whereas lock-in mechanisms hampered growth, they also prevented the cluster from going into a state of decline. We argue that while regional development strategies stimulated new emerging clusters in the Flemish region, vested interests in the port and associated lock-in mechanisms have resisted such developments in Antwerp. New growth trajectories based on the chemical cluster were therefore difficult to recreate in the Antwerp region.     

The Effects of Exogenous Shocks on the Development of Regional Innovation Systems

Drawing on previous studies related to the evolutionary aspects of regional innovation systems (RIS), this paper examines how an exogenous shock reduced organizational thinness, fragmentation and lock-in and thereby facilitated path creation and RIS emergence in a peripheral region. A longitudinal case study approach, based on primary data from 39 interviews conducted between 2008 and 2012, is used to investigate how a region was affected by the sudden entry and subsequent activity of a multinational oil company. A multi-level analysis illustrates how this exogenous shock facilitated change at the firm, public authority and macro (regional) levels and thus provides a holistic understanding of the complex mechanisms that underlie regional transformation. The analysis illustrates how the entry of the oil company reduced organizational thinness by stimulating the establishment of external firms. The existing regional actors then managed to reduce their organizational lock-in by adapting their skills and resource bases to new knowledge provided through interfirm relationships (reduced fragmentation), and this reduced organizational lock-in and fragmentation ultimately strengthened the industrial structure and further contributed to regional path creation. A number of innovations were observed, and in combination with the “thickened” institutional structure, this represented the means for an emerging RIS.     

Myopia, knowledge development and cluster evolution

This article aims to show how processes of knowledge developmentand their institutional underpinnings make up the core of evolutionaryeconomic geography. We argue that micro level concepts—notablyinnovation, selection and retention—provide insights thatcan be helpful also when investigating evolutionary processesof knowledge creation at the aggregate levels of cities, regionsor nations. We investigate the linkage between drivers, mechanismsand barriers to knowledge creation and acquisition at the micro-level,and the development over time and across spatial settings ofhigher-order phenomena of localized institutions and other capabilities.We apply this distinction on the analysis of the rise, growth,decline and possible rejuvenation of spatial clusters of similarand complementary economic activity.