Innovation clusters

An Innovation cluster has various characteristics, including an expanding number of companies at the leading edge of a sector. This can vary from technology eg around medical technologies, to virtual products such as design or art.
Everyone has heard of Silicon Valley, but the UK examples include Stoke in the C18 (ceramics) Glasgow in the C19 (engineering) and Cambridge in the C20 (life sciences).
The complete characteristics of a good cluster are often missed,and while many commentators reference components of an environment, we can look wider. There is often a focus on IP protected knowledge and newness that neglects the real asset - people and loses the historical strengths that underpin a cluster. Silicon Valley is not new look at HP set up in the 1920's!
Any innovation cluster generates or pulls in people and puts them into a particular innovation milieu. History and the long-term advantages of an area underpin current successes.
As a proponent of an innovation ecosystem there are a range of capabilities needed. Clearly you need a supportive environment of resources both virtual and real. Money, space, stable regulatory environment, absence of government blocking, cultural support and real expertise.
The developments that led to the C18 industrial revolution in the UK showcase the contrast, between the blocking effect of industry cluster eg guilds, to the open and competitive environment of real innovation clusters.
In my view you need to consider places that provide all 12 parts of the thematic map I developed a few years ago. Greenfield development or regeneration are really hard if you are starting from scratch and without all of those elements in different degrees you are whistling in the wind.
Which is why I'm not scared by BRICs and CIVETs - bring on the competition, and potential collaboration of course.