The building blocks and inter-regional connectivity of cluster community networks: Analysis of the French biopharmaceutical cluster “Polepharma”

Keywords: cluster, community, pharmaceutical industry
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 16

Abstract

In the ecosystem of knowledge complex industries, diverse stakeholders (e.g. firms, government agencies, R&D centers and universities, financial institutions, incubators and accelerators) collaborate in innovation activities and build up multiplex inter-organizational networks. In this process, cluster communities emerge as the “middleground” that facilitates knowledge generation and diffusion in multilateral innovation activities. Additionally, they orchestrate the interdependent relationships among key stakeholders across geographic boundaries and organizational hierarchies. In this research, we investigate the building blocks of the French biopharmaceutical cluster community “Polepharma” (Île-de-France – Normandie - Centre-Val de Loire), and what factors contribute to the connectivity of embedded regions. We first identify the diverse stakeholders and their roles in innovation activities within the cluster community. Then, we distinguish the spatial agglomeration tendency as well as the cliqueness in the cluster networks. After that, we incorporate inter-organizational relationships at regional level, and investigate the building blocks and connectivity of global city (Paris), regional industrial centers (Louviers, Chartres, Tours), other regional centers (Rouen, Caen, Le Havre, Évreux, Orléans), and peripheral territories embedded in the network. We anticipate the diversity of building blocks and the whole network structural cohesion affect the centrality of embedded regions. Finally, we conclude the theoretical and practical implication of “core-periphery” interactions in the interdependent network mechanisms in knowledge complex cluster community.