Excel Regional Solutions has published a course on Cluster Identification for the Center for Cluster Development, a nonprofit project funded by a national philanthropy (and under fiscal sponsorship by the Federation of American Scientists) to produce cluster resources that benefit regions of all sizes and capacities.
Why a course on cluster identification?
Cluster identification is the first step for a region deciding to pursue a cluster development strategy. Some regions embark on this path and then realize that identifying local industry clusters is more difficult than imagined — this course can help with that. Some regions discover they have multiple clusters and are not certain how to proceed — this course can help with that too.
Here are some of the reasons economic development practitioners want to learn about clusters:
- You have a limited budget for company recruitment and want to understand how to maximize your impact.
- Local education and workforce providers want to organize industry-driven training and need to know where to start.
- Your region is seeking greater economic diversification, and you need to identify your existing and emerging clusters.
- A federal, state, or philanthropic funder wants to support a regional industry cluster, and you need to start with an assessment.
- You think an industry gives your region a competitive edge, but you want to be able to benchmark its strength against your peers.
Course objectives
People who complete the course should be able to do the following:
- Know how to identify clusters
- Understand how to prioritize clusters for public support
- Be prepared to lead your region in cluster identification and prioritization process
How Excel created the course
Excel produced this course through a robust process, including the following steps.
- Author experience working with cluster development professionals and regional cluster initiative funders.
- Assessments of federal programs that fund regional cluster development strategies.
- Reviews of academic literature and regional strategy documents and impact reports.
- Interviews with regional industry cluster leadership.
- Feedback from cluster development researchers and consultants.
- Testing with two cohorts of regional economic development practitioners.
Begin the course today
Practitioners (accompanied by partners in their region) have two options to take the course:
- Self-guided curriculum. A self-paced version of the course, complete with suggested exercises and resources for additional reading, is freely available at: https://clusterdevelopment.us/cluster-identification-self-guided-course/
- Facilitated course. Excel’s Jason Rittenberg can provide a facilitated version of the course in-person or virtually. Costs are reasonable (time + expenses) and can be for one-all modules or tailored to your region. Contact rittenberg@excelregions.com to get started.