Do clusters matter to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship regional outcomes? Why (or why not)? These questions, anchored in the current gap between the interest in clusters and
entrepreneurship and the little research on their joint impact on regional development, are the lei motiv of this book. In effect, near 400 million people are starting or running new
businesses, half of them in developing countries. Also, hundreds of cluster initiatives have been launched in all the regions of the world arguing that, among other benefits, they promote
entrepreneurship and employment growth. Yet, both academics and policymakers know little about the joint impact of entrepreneurship and clusters on regional development. The reason is the
wide diversity of theoretical and policy approaches to define and measure clusters and entrepreneurship, and to evaluate their effect on regional development.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development aims at answering the questions and filling the relevance-rigor gap that motivates this book by reviewing the latest studies, elaborating and
testing a socio-economic theory of clusters, and providing implications for academics and policymakers.
