Clusters - Territorial Networks. Where to?

Globalization has led to an increased international trade relations between organizations spatially separated. This determined a greater spatial differentiation influenced by local and regional competition production systems. Territoriality has been considered as the main cause for the development of active areas, explaining also the success of certain local systems of production that became competitive on a global scale. The new school of regional competitiveness promoted by Porter (2003) identifies the cluster industry as a source of competitive advantages, supporting the identification and cluster setting – up as an objective of the public policy. In the last few years, clusters became an important basis for the new policies promoted at the level of the European Union. The challenges established through the Lisbon Strategy, respectively “to make the Europe the most competitive and dynamic based knowledge economy”, determinate a new approach of the economic policy in order to increase competitiveness. For the regional economy, the cluster has the aim to develop new strategies focused on the economic sectors of the regional development, by taking into account sectoral advantages. However, in terms of economic activities promoted at regional level, the spatial development is an essential component for increasing EU competitiveness in terms of economic globalization trends, regional networks being considered the most advanced form of cluster in the economic sector.