Generating Cluster Policy Learning through Evaluation

Madeline Smith, James Wilson & Emily Wise

Cluster Lab 2

Cluster EvaluationCluster Lab | Daegu, Republic of Korea5th November 2015

The Story So Far• Common Challenge• Complex • Increasing importance

• Sharing learning• Identifying gaps• Trying new

Cluster Evaluation Working Group• Over three years of work• Workshops, conference presentations & discussions• Newsletter updates• Website zone

March 2015Working group meetingRzeszow, Poland

November 2015TCI ConferenceCluster LabDaegu, South Korea

Kolding TCI 2013

Belfast March 2014Digging Deeper into questions

Monterrey TCI 2014ProgressOutputsMini Projects

Rzeszow March 2015Human Element• Framework• Firm Level• Test /iterate

Benchmarking• Sharing• Learning

On-line discussion

Daegu TCI 2015

This cluster lab is a forum to:

• Address sticky issues• Leverage TCI knowledge• Collaboratively tackle shared challenges• Create better solutions to cluster evaluation

Agenda

• State of play of cluster evaluation• Exercise: ‘the perfect cluster’• Working on ‘sticky problems’• Wrap up

The Challenge

Despite proliferation of cluster initiatives, there is a shortage of evaluation research and practice• Leaves cluster policies open to questions• Prevents learning

How then do we develop better approaches to capture the impact of cluster policies and foster learning around how to improve them?

Methodological Difficulties

Direct outcomes are intangible & difficult to isolate• Space for debating issues that may only

generate solutions in the longer term• Higher trust and social capital• Spillovers to agents outside the cluster initiative

This it is difficult to rigorously show whether or not cluster policy has positive effects: “pick and mix of research evidence” (Perry, 2005)

Heterogeneity & Policy Mixes• Variety of policies in ‘cluster’ family• Complex relations with other competitiveness

policies

Source: Magro & Wilson (2013)

A generally accepted framework

...contribute to increased interactive learning and

collaborative research and innovation projects

...which contributes to increased innovation, international

attractive-ness, productivity and growth

Activities to strengthen or

upgrade a cluster/

innovation environment...

Input/Resources Activities Results/Outcomes Effects

3-10 years >10 years

Structural capital

(tangibles)

Social capital (intangibles)

Results/Outcomes

3-10 years

How to capture and

evaluate collaborative

dynamics?How to evidence broader

regional socio-economic

impacts?

Which data and

indicators?How to benchmark

and learn from

others?What is the role and effect

of cluster management?

Evaluation as Learning

• Evaluate across why, what & how• Not audit – all about learning• How to influence policy improvement and cluster

management improvement simultaneously

Emerging approaches

Quantative Impact Studies

Qualitative Case Studies

Towards ‘mixed methods &

evidence’

(smart combination of

pieces of evidence gathered by

different people)

Social network analysis

Participatory evaluation

Realist evaluation

The Perfect Cluster

• A user journey story from the perspective of the cluster

• If we were starting, growing, internationalising and diversifying the perfect cluster, how would we evidence its development?

The Perfect ClusterCreation Growth Internationalisation Diversification

Activity: What is happening?Actors: Who is involved?

Resources: What money & physical assets are being used?Social Capital: What type of behaviour do we see?Results: What is being generated?

Sticky Problems

1. How can we capture the right information (qual/quant) without making evaluation excessive?

2. How can we measure/evidence trust building and collaborative strength?

3. How do we ensure evaluation is about learning that is useful to both clusters and policy makers?

Sticky Problem GroupsExperience Audit

• What methods/approaches have we used before?

Experience Reflection

• What was good about these and what issues have we had with them?

Summary and Next Steps Key learning from today?How to take it forward?

Cluster EvaluationCluster Lab | Daegu, Republic of Korea5th November 2015