“…the author looked at the financial advantages, and costs, that clusters provided for firms throughout the life cycle of two innovative industries — semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. He examined 31 years of data on 194 publicly traded companies, which enabled him to see how clustered and nonclustered firms performed at various points in an industry’s life cycle. Surprisingly, the author found no clear evidence that clusters enhance a firm’s financial performance.”

Sounds like more research is needed, and the study does not rule out the non-financial benefits that may be realized with clustering strategies, but it does have implications an idea that has been widely accepted as an economic development truth.

Read more here via Place Marketing Group.

The province of Prince Edward Island and the City of Summerside are in Atlanta this week for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference. That’s our client Mike Thususka, Director of Economic Development for the City of Summerside, in the picture below standing next to the latest addition to the “Health IT Brick Campaign” collateral. So far, Mike reports that he continues to get great feedback about the campaign and it’s opening doors at this year’s conference with the same momentum it did in 2009. Click here for the backstory.

PEI was ranked 4th worldwide by KPMG for Advanced Software Development. They have been aggressively pursuing new Health IT companies with the “Brick Campaign” to create a world-class cluster in Summerside. You can learn more about the Health IT attraction initiative here.