We call them clusters, or precincts, or innovation districts, or entrepreneurial ecosystems, or … WAIT, are we really talking about the same thing here?
It is easy to generalise this as COLLABORATION (which it is) but the Porters and Wagners of the world would surely disagree. C-EDGE’s own Kathryn Anderson, of national 3MT fame, has spent the last four years deeply exploring what it emerges from the construction of Innovation Districts.
The debate about definitions is never to be ignored though. ‘Clusters’ were defined back in the 1990s by Harvard academic Dr Michael Porter, and are still a valuable definition for the sector-based, vertically integrated collaboration that almost plays off competition with mutual benefit. Go back about one hundred years, and Alfred Marshall coined the phrase ‘industrial atmosphere’, not anything to do with levels of Greenhouse Gas emissions, rather that there is ‘something in the air’ that brings firms together around a central opportunity to collaborate.
Innovation Districts are distinctly different, confirms Kathryn Anderson. From her research, she has found that there are deliberate elements of repurposing and urban regeneration included in this, as well as residential and community aspects that do not feature within Porter’s ‘jostling’ competitive clusters.
“There have been calls for the ‘next Silicon Valley’, for more than 20 years, says Kathryn.
“I would suggest that we don’t need to recreate Silicon Valley, but we do need to find what works for where and how we are. Places are contextualised, so our approach needs to be too.
“What I found through my study of both Technology Park Adelaide and Tonsley Innovation District was that, yes, the atmosphere of the place is important, but it can’t be left to chance meetings between those companies located there.
“If you want the big innovative ideas to spark, then you need to facilitate connections. What does this mean? The shared facilities are a start, but you need networking events, you need to help create common goals or joint projects.
“My research found a diversity of ways to start, and that momentum comes from activity that creates ‘tangles’ of interaction. There are no surefire ingredients that definitively lead to success just because they are there, instead, it is why and how they interact that is important. This is where I found the success was occurring at Technology Park Adelaide and Tonsley Innovation District. What this means, is you can build it, and populate it, but for places like this to work, they need ongoing coordination.
“They are not a set and forget.”
Kathryn’s work has looked at the role of the physical environment and socialised professional networks in creating connected places. More information can be found here:
