Cluster dynamics: learning from Competitiveness Cluster policy. The case of ‘Secure Communicating Solutions’ in the French Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region

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The paper aims to identify the forms and dynamics of the organizational structures of high-tech clusters overtime.Since Markusen (1996), it is well acknowledged that diversity is an emergent property of clusters, but theinteractions between local and non-local actors of the clusters are difficult to trace because of lack of relevant data.The cluster policies developed to fix the network failures between the heterogeneous actors – large and small firms,universities, research institutes – of the current processes of innovation provide new information opportunities. InFrance, Competitiveness Clusters work as a “factories of project”; the information they produce on collective R&Dprojects applying for subsidies provides a proxy of local and non-local relations of the clusters. Social networkanalysis is used to infer the organizational structure of the collective learning networks and trace their dynamics.The case studies considered are Sophia-Antipolis and Rousset, two high tech clusters which belong to the sameCompetitiveness Cluster, ‘Secure Communicating Solutions’ in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region. Thepaper highlights the decoupling of the two clusters overtime as a consequence of distinctive organizationalstructures. The diversity of the dynamics of the collective learning networks which emerges through the analysisof the collective R&D projects in the two high tech clusters shows that knowledge creation and innovation canfollow different paths and questions the public policies implemented.