Industrial clusters

Abstract

Industrial clusters are geographically concentrated networks of production of strongly interdependent firms linked to each other in a value-adding production chain. Besides the major manufacturers and the connecting suppliers, universities, research institutes, knowledge intensive business services and transfer institutions are also included in the clusters. Clusters increase the competitiveness of not only the individual participant but also the whole region. Consequently the building of industrial clusters (e.g. automotive, electronic, etc.) emerged to the centre of both economic and regional development in the whole world. There are also some initiatives for cluster development in Hungary and the government responds to it quite positively. Therefore it can be useful to shortly examine the theoretical background and the international experiences of clusters and cluster policies for the better application and implementation in Hungary.