What drives ICT clustering in European Cities?

ICT clusters have attracted much attention because of their rapid growth and their value to other economic activities. We examine the drivers of ICT activity in 227 cities across 22 European countries. We examine the national business environment along with city-level factors to identify important factors which influence ICT clustering. We address interdependencies at different levels using a nested multilevel model, which assesses the impact of urban characteristics and country conditions on ICT clustering. We also examine two types of ICT activities, products and content. Our results demonstrate idiosyncratic impacts based on national business environment and urban factors on ICT clustering, and further, that the impacts vary depending on the nature of the ICT activity.