Collective learning and knowledge development in the evolution of regional clusters of high technology SMEs in Europe

This paper outlines the aims and objectives of the TSER Network on Networks, Collective Learning and Research and Technology Development in Regionally Clustered High Technology Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), and considers evolutionary trajectories of European regional clusters of such SMEs in the 1980s. It reviews the development of ideas concerning regional clustering, from Marshall's industrial districts, through innovative milieux, to notions of regional untraded interdependencies, networks and collective learning. Particular attention is paid to how firms and regions develop competences and new knowledge as the basis for successful innovation. It concludes by outlining the focus of individual papers.