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.

Michael E. Porter launched the new U.S. Cluster Mapping tool on September 29, 2014 in Minneapolis as part of a two-day conference called Mapping the Midwest’s Future, held by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The conference hosted over 150 business leaders, policymakers, economic development officials and academics from twelve Midwest states and four Canadian provinces. The Humphrey School of Public Affairs has compiled a full listing of presentations from the conference, with documentation where available.

On October 2, 2014, members of the core U.S. Cluster Mapping project team demoed the new website to members of SelectUSA, which is the U.S. government program that promotes & facilitates FDI & business investment in the United States.

On September 29, 2014, Professor Mercedes Delgado from Temple University's Fox School of Business and Professor Scott Stern from MIT Sloan School of Management delivered a presentation 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. Their presentation focused on the underlying research and methodology behind cluster mapping, and the relevance of clusters to economic development, resilience from recessions, innovation, and improved regional economic performance.

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. based on a deeper understanding of the drivers of competitiveness in the modern global economy.

In keeping with the objectives outlined in its 2012 Technology Innovation Roadmap, EPA aims to encourage technological innovation by supporting the development of clusters focused on environmental technology. This report reviews existing literature on industry clusters by Porter, Smilor, Gibson, Kozmetsky, Phillips, and others to summarize the prerequisites for the successful creation of a technology innovation cluster and promote the practices that will sustain it.

Universities and national labs have the power to drive Illinois’ 21st-century knowledge economy by infusing talent and technology across a spectrum of industries to create new products, companies, and jobs. According to the state’s recently published economic development plan, for every new high-tech position in metro areas, an average of five additional local jobs are created—two in professional fields and three in nonprofessional fields. Given this economic multiplier, fostering research activity within the state is an important priority.

Nearly five years after the Great Recession of 2008, the road to economic recovery has been sluggish nationwide – with employment and economic activity still below levels recorded before the severe recession hit. Of particular concern is that the growth in Maine, along with that of the rest of New England, continues to lag behind even the sluggish growth of the overall U.S. recovery.

The state of Illinois is uniquely positioned as a Midwestern, national and global leader in science and technology research and development. Discover the breadth of Illinois’ innovation assets and resources by taking a tour of the Illinois Innovation Ecosystem presentation below.

The Illinois Innovation Network was established by Governor Pat Quinn in 2011 as a common platform to connect startups, innovation-driven enterprises, service providers, research and academic institutions, and community leaders to position Illinois as one of the world’s top innovation centers. 

Since their inception in the 1940s, the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have been in the vanguard of America’s global research and development leadership. However, the national innovation system has changed in the past 70 years. Today, much technology development and application occurs in the context of synergistic regional clusters of firms, trade associations, educational institutions, private labs, and regional economic development organizations.