Transformations  in
Business & Economics

DIFFERENTIATION OF CLUSTER POLICY INSTRUMENTS IN INDIVIDUAL PHASES OF THE CLUSTER LIFE CYCLE³
Anna H. Jankowiak

ABSTRACT. The role of clusters in the development of local entrepreneurship, innovation and broadly understood competitiveness is undoubted, and the authorities of individual countries conduct a specific policy - a cluster policy - which aims to develop regional clusters. Despite the development of a cluster policy in many national economies, there is a problem with measuring its effectiveness.
Huge financial outlays are currently transferred to regional clusters under national and transnational programs, but the effects are not entirely known. While it is relatively easy to measure the ratio of financial outlays to increasing the number of clusters or cluster entities, testing the effectiveness of non-financial factors causes many difficulties. Therefore, there is a need to properly select cluster policy instruments for the life cycle of clusters, which may contribute to the creation of more tailored solutions in cluster policy. The article aims to link the tools used by cluster policy with the life cycle of clusters. Clusters, like many phenomena in economics, have their life cycle and, depending on the development phase, may require other support from regional or national authorities.

KEYWORDS:  cluster policy, cluster life cycle, instruments of cluster policy.

³Acknowledgment:  The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under the programme "Regional Initiative of Excellence" 2019-2022 project number 015/RID/2018/19 total funding amount 10 721 040.00 PLN.