A dynamic model of Cyber-entrepreneurship and cluster formation: applications in the United States and in the Low Countries

Policy-makers and captains of industry in the Netherlands and Flanders have come up with plans, actions, and measures to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship in the ICT-industries. Inspired by the vision and experiences with new business development and cluster formation in Silicon Valley, Route 128 and Silicon Alley, they seek to create indigenous technopoles in the Low Countries. Some of these new ideas and plans have recently been put forward: Amsterdam Multimedia Corridor, Louvain Technology Corridor, Flanders Language Valley, Twente and Dommel Valley. This paper seeks to address the following research questions: Is it possible to emulate the success of Silicon Valley in the polders of the Low Countries? And what are the preconditions for growing a Silicon Valley in the Netherlands and Flanders? In order to explain the path-dependent rise of ICT-technopoles in general, a dynamic model is presented and discussed. Furthermore, analyzing and comparing the aforementioned ICT-clusters in the Netherlands and Flanders validates the model. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.