The system of Italian industrial districts seems to have produced a "model of capitalism" that is different from those of the "Anglo-Saxon" and "Rhine Valley". However, the Italian model - which might be defined as "horizontal or network capitalism" - is not limited to Italy. Starting from a detailed look at the relations between general theories of complexity and an analysis of the economic dynamics of industrial clusters, this volume considers two different applications. Firstly, models of industrial clusters, and secondly, success cases of  clusters around the world. The volume includes papers from well-known international authors. These papers were first presented at a conference organized by Fondazione Comunità e Innovazione in 2001 under the aegis of Edison (formerly Montedison) Group and of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction: From Specific Industrial Cases to a General Economic Model?
Alberto Quadrio Curzio and Marco Fortis

Complexity and Economic Dynamics

• What Is Complexity?
  Murray Gell-Mann
• Complex Adaptive Systems and Spontaneous Emergence
  John H. Holland
• The Industrial Cluster as a Complex Adaptive System
  Enzo Rullani

General Models of Industrial Cluster Dynamics

• Complexity and Local Interactions: Towards a Theory of Industrial Districts
  David A. Lane
• From Marshall's to the Italian "Industrial Districts". A Brief Critical Reconstruction
  Giacomo Becattini
• Diversity, Not Specialization: The Ties That Bind the (New) Industrial District
  Charles F. Sabel
• Competitive and Synergic Behaviours in the Development of Industrial Clusters: Ecological Modelling and Empirical Evidence
  Marco Fortis and Mario A. Maggioni
• On the Ubiquitous Nature of Agglomeration Economies and Their Diverse Determinants: Some Notes
  Giulio Bottazzi, Giovanni Dosi and Giorgio Fagiolo

Success Cases Around the World

• The Entrepreneurial Spark: Individual Agents and the Formation of Innovative Clusters
  Maryann P. Feldman and Johanna Francis
• From Exogenous to Endogenous Local Development: The Cases of the Toulouse and Sophia Antipolis Technopoles
  Christian Longhi
• Biotechnology Development in Germany: The Case of Nordrhein-Westfalen
  Francesco Salamini, Anke Sohn and Hartmut Thomas
• Support for Technology-Based Firms: The Role Played by Property-Based Science Parks
  Don Siegel, Paul Westhead and Mike Wright
• High-Tech Industrial Clusters in the Asian Countries: The Case of the Electronics Industry in the Hsinchu-Taipei Region
  Kung Wang
• Financial Markets, Industrial Clusters and Small and Medium-Size Enterprises
  Angelo Tantazzi