Looking at manufacturing processes, the innovative process flows from an advance in knowledge. Some researchers point to a knowledge economy, and clusters should be based on a knowledge chain. As noted in a paper from Tomas Bata University, Czech Republic, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs defines knowledge cluster as "an innovative, interrelated group of firms that gain competitive advantages through building and transmitting knowledge among local actors.

"A cluster can revolve around a certain industry that exports beyond the region or involve technologies (e.g. knowledge...) that cross industry boundaries."

With the industry sector clusters, businesses form alliances easily because they share a market. Sometimes exciting breakthroughs occur in clusters.

Take Carolina Narrow Fabric Company, a textile company, and Entegrion, a spinoff firm from a nearby university, for instance. Entegrion's specialty is hemostasis, or stopping blood flow after trauma. In this illustration, the two companies are about 88 miles apart and didn't initially know each other. They came to learn about each other "after the U.S. Office of Naval Research approached Entegrion about developing a better dressing fabric for the battlefield," explains JournalNow. According to the article's author, the companies found each other through networking conferences.

To make a long story short, Entegrion had a technology involving the use of glass fibers for helping the human body stanch blood flow, and Carolina Narrow Fabric had "fabric expertise, excess capacity and people who were willing to think outside the box," explains JournalNow. Entegrion "also wanted a North Carolina partner, if possible, for logistical reasons."

On the sector cluster side, we have regions such as Silicon Valley in California and Route 28 in the Boston region, where electronics companies often assist each other to advance a particular technology. Considering today's global economy, business clusters operate in other countries, too.

In Regional Futures' Sustainable Business Clusters in the Regions research report (2004), the authors mention clusters in England and Denmark. The report adds that for sharing energy resources and recycling — waste to raw material — the geographic cluster really can impart a benefit to cluster inhabitants.

In some sectors, however, while an individual company may benefit from operating in a cluster, it may not boost a regional economy, according to a chapter in the book Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development: A Spatial Perspective. Therefore, clusters may not always serve well for regional developers looking to spark regional economic growth.

Nonetheless, "most states, and regions within states, as well provinces and regions in Canada, have developed biotechnology clusters and programs to help startup companies with the hope of a big payoff in workforce and tax revenues sometime in the future," states Expansion Management.

How to Strengthen Relationships in Your Cluster
When you're trying to take advantage of every idea for nurturing growth in your company, strengthening relationships in your cluster may be well worth the time you spend. Joining and becoming active in professional groups can serve nicely for businesspeople interested in a sector cluster.

A visit to FreshPatents.com reveals a category labeled Industrial, enabling manufacturing managers to see if there are any new technologies (knowledge) that could help their companies compete more aggressively.

Attending industry- or sector-specific conferences also makes a great way to rub shoulders with those who strive to keep up with advances (such as in technologies) in the field.

When thinking about a geographic cluster, you can use ThomasNet.com or, to be fair, other such sources/directories. For example, if you enter North Texas and chemical, you get 41 companies to contact to see if they are interested in working as a team member to advance a technology, process or strategy or to research a theory or develop a new product jointly.

Joining service organizations in your community allows for meeting employees and sometimes owners of neighboring companies. Local universities and college business or economic development groups make a great way to use their resources to connect with others who are eager to get ahead through technology.

You could join Toastmasters International, give speeches on your activities and join LinkedIn.

Once you've found a potential collaborator, propose a project in general terms and, if your contact is interested, move on to confidentiality agreements. If it doesn't work out right away, maintain your relationship, even if only occasionally, to keep the relationship alive. As in your personal professional networking, avoid bridge burning and all that.

Resources

Region as a Knowledge Cluster: Intellectual Capital Management and Measurement within Clusters and Regions
by Libor Friedel
Tomas Bata University, 2007

Fabric, Biomed Companies Teaming Up
by Richard Craver
JournalNow.com, Sept. 18, 2007

Sustainable Business Clusters in the Regions
by Ann-Marie Brouder and Lorna Berry
Regional Futures Research Report, February 2004

Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development: A Spatial Perspective (Chapter 9)
by Philip McCann and Tomokazu Arita
Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004

Expanding Biotech Companies Use Clusters to Grow Their Operations
by Ken Krizner
Expansion Management, April 1, 2006