The Dynamics of Cluster Formation in Accelerated Radical Innovation: Bridging the Inception to Implementation Gap

Innovation is a social process. Successful providers, financial institutions, etc). A cluster-based accelerated radical innovation requires high levels of social innovation program recognizes the value of bringing together, at capital (trust, mutual understanding, and shared values and a very early stage, all the various stakeholders who are critical behaviors) between those engaged in the innovation process. to the innovation process. Through this early engagement, Developing and maintaining sufficient levels of social capital is a social capital is more quickly developed and the innovation major impediment to innovation. Cluster-based innovation process speeded up. This paper will present ideas for speeding programs can facilitate the trust-building process and, as a up the innovation process through a cluster-based initiative, result, speed up the pace of innovation. A cluster is a These ideas will be drawn both from the literature on cluster- geographic concentration of an industry and affiliated support based innovation initiatives and our own experience in cluster- infrastructure (e.g. university researchers, vocational training based economic development in Northwest Ohio.