Innovation Clusters as an Association Model of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Context of Regional Development

Abstract

Numerous empirical studies have long been indicated the importance of business infrastructure for economic and regional development. Ensuring long-term economic growth, as well as the creation and development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as key drivers of the development of modern economies, requires a high level of efficiency and flexibility of business infrastructure. In the Western Balkans, the absence of a coherent business infrastructure network is the biggest obstacle to the rapid growth of their economies. For this reason, the activities of the Western Balkan governments in the future should be aimed at developing a network of business infrastructure in order to increase the share of the knowledge and services sector with high added value in the economic structure. This paper aims to point out the role of innovative clusters as a model of associating SMEs in the context of regional development.

Do Industrial Clusters Contribute to Organizations’ Innovation Performance? Path Analysis

“…According to them, these clusters have a great potential for cooperation and can contribute to the development of other clusters. Investigating the goals of including organizations in clusters, Kostadinović and Stanković (2020) obtained the results according to which strategic collaboration, infrastructure and standards, information sharing, and lobbying have positive effects on innovation, while innovations have a positive effect on regional development in the context of the Republic of Serbia.…”