This paper examines the early years of the Friesian Dairy School and is a case study of how knowledge institutions were integrated into a regional economic cluster. The dairy school was the result of cooperation between people and organisations from the economic and political sectors, which inspired the emergence of an industrial dairy cluster. The school had a difficult start because it was not clear whether higher education was a matter of private or public interest. In the discussions about the funding and direction of the school, we can observe how patterns of cooperation in and between the economic sector and the state were shaped. The study shows how cooperative structures originate in processes of trial and error. Cluster evolution can therefore be driven by both discord and consensus within economic networks. The result of such non-linear and multi-scalar developments ultimately reflect a clear differentiation of tasks between economic actors, the state and knowledge institutions.
1 IntroductionThe building of cooperative structures between individuals and organisations is given an important position in cluster theories. Geographical proximity eases face-to-face contact, which has a stimulating effect on informal ties. According to this line of thought, regionally entrenched networks instil a group feeling which has a stimulating effect on the establishment of shared knowledge institutions. 1 Many of those involved in current clus-1 S. Cruz and A. Teixeira, 'The evolution of cluster literature: shedding light on the regional studies -regional science debate', Regional studies 44:9 (2010) 1263-1288, 1266.
67VOL. 13, NO. 4, 2016 ter policies concentrate their activities on the establishment of infrastructure for research, development and vocational training. Such strategies have also proved to have influenced the development of economic clusters in the past. As a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, territorially bounded rural production systems were confronted with new technological possibilities for the processing of their agricultural commodities. Production methods became more complex and one way of responding to the challenge this posed was to establish institutions which trained primarily young people in how to exploit these new economic opportunities. Major obstacles, however, were the investment costs of building knowledge institutions. Who should pay for the schools, laboratories, research centres and so on? The answers were far from clear in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Ideological barriers and practical impediments held back the agricultural knowledge infrastructure in the Netherlands compared to other European countries.
2Clusters have helped overcome these barriers and impediments. Professional lobby groups, organised by regional networks, laid the foundations for agricultural schools. The building of a national infrastructure was a minor issue for the representatives of these networks, who were embedded in particular agricultural traditions. These actors were dr...
This article explores the historical actors and societal factors existing at the beginning of land consolidation as an instrument of Dutch rural planning. The call for a legal framework to redistribute fragmented parcels in an efficient and rational manner, was growing from the 1890’s
onwards. Because of the ideological barriers in the political center, in which the division between public and private interests was the most important aspect, this framework was heavily disputed. Social minded, liberal reformers of the middle class, mobilized political pressure. The government
was ready to take action, when the First World War made the national economy fragile and revealed the necessity to become more self-sufficient. In 1924 the first Land Consolidation Act was passed, but obstacles blocked a widespread use of the instrument. These obstacles were lowered in the
1930’s. Economic recession gave way to an active policy for the improvement of the countryside, for which the Land Consolidation Act was the judicial vehicle.
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