TCI Learning in the last half decade: Exchange of impressions with Dr. Göran Lindquist

This TCI Conference is the 12th one and has created a lot of networks and friendships.  In additon 12 years of exchange on experiences also have contributed to many learning processes.  But how can they be summarized? In an interview with Dr. Göran Lindquist we reflected about the learnings of the last 6 years.  Lindquist is co-author of the famous Cluster Initiative Green Book and other TCI publications  (see reference below).  The whole podcast interview can also be downloaded or listened here.

“What have we learned since 2003?”, was the first question I discussed with Lindquist. uiring the the exchange of thoughts several learnings came up:

• in 2003 still everybody wanted to understand what a cluster initiative “is” or “is not”. Today everybody knows it and the cluster approach is widely accepted
• many practitioners wanted to find “a one size fits all solution” instead of being open for diversity and different cluster approaches. Today the cluster discussion benefits from these diverse experiences
• the cluster discussion has moved from the question of how a cluster initiative should be promoted, towards new topics like value chains, and in the last two  years from there to innovation and innovation systems and more technology-push approaches
• Evaluation and impact monitoring has become an important topic because the many initiatives that have been promoted since the 1990s have been pressured to demonstrate results after several years of support

For Göran Lindquist the discussion has moved from a simplistic black-white perspective towards a more relaxed, profound and diverse one. “In 2003 we still discussed for example if a strong government involvement in cluster initiatives is either good or bad.  During the last years we have learned that government involvement is not the relevant success criteria. Much more important is the quality of involvement“, said Lindquist.

What are the main challenges for the future discussion? was the final question of the interview. For Lindquist there are two main challenges:

• First, we need to understand more about evaluating our work on cluster promotion. For him it is clear that evaluating the soft aspects of cluster initiatives will stay to be difficlut also in the longer run. But it is good that many initiatives are now trying to develop different evaluation methods which will contribute also to different insights on this topic
• Second, a challenge is still the question of how to involve not only small but also  large companies in the initiatives. How is it possible to strengthen these localized aspects of business linkages between these companies?, is a question that still has to get more attention

There is a third challeng I myself have emphasized: the discussion needs again to become more focused on the question what businesses learn from the initiatives and how to promote and facilitate such a learning in the most proper way.

Dr. Lindquist, thank you for the interesting reflection!

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P.S.: Further information on Initiative Books:

Some of the TCI learnings were published by the TCI network in several Cluster books who still can be seen as groundbreaking publications on international experiences of cluster initiatives. The TCI Conference became the place where the books were presented:  It was like that in 2003 in Gothenburg, where the Cluster Initiative Green Book was presented to the public. It provided an overview about  cluster initiatives world wide and was the first attempt to provide an overview about different formats of cluster initiatives. A follow-up book on cluster initiatives in developing and transition countries – the “Bluebook” – was launched in 2006 in Lyon. In 2008 on the TCI Conference in South Africa the Red Book was presented focusing on challenges on evaluation and key succes criteria in initiatives.

Especially the Green book became one of the groundbreaking publications for cluster managers and policy makers who started to become interested on the promotion of cluster initiatives.

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