An overview of the clusters policies in the north region of Portugal

Abstract

Clusters, understood as geographical agglomerations of small to medium-sized firms specialised in specific sectors and strongly connected, are at the top of the political agendas for their positive impacts in the regional development and in the economic competitiveness. These policies have been promoted by several entities in different territorial levels and involved both public and private entities. In the specific case of Portugal, the Technological Plan approved in 2005 and the Collective Efficiency Strategies launched in 2007 constituted the most remarkable instruments to promote the constitution of clusters in strategic sectors for the national and regional growth. The main goal of the paper is to present and discuss about the public initiatives that are supporting the installation of some specific clusters in the North region of Portugal. The starting point of the study was the authors’ participation in a European project (AT- Clusters) focused on the debate and exchange of experiences and good practices in the clusters policies domain. The paper gives account of the national and regional policies driven to clusters and highlights the main impacts that these policies are causing in a regional level, namely in the mobilisation of private entities and firms. The paper also analyses the stages of consolidation of the different clusters in the North region of Portugal. Finally, the paper emphasises some critical elements related to the clusterisation of some sectors, underlying the challenges that will be faced by the regional entities on which a higher or lesser success of these initiatives will depend.