Industrial Clusters in the Knowledge Economy. Innovation paths in an Italian Furniture District

Abstract

Nowadays, the district and clustered industrial realities are increasingly assuming importance within an international and globalized context. Through an initial literary and historical analysis, tracing the evolutionary paths and the main differences, we focused on the study of the resources and competitive factors guaranteeing the survival of these industrial entities within the global markets. Therefore, we studied the element "knowledge" as the key to constant innovative progress. We examined the peculiarities of this resource, from creation to transfer, from assimilation to the production of new knowledge, paying attention to the fundamental order of networks of relationships that are created between the various actors involved. Later, in parallel with the study of knowledge communities and learning societies, we analyzed districts and clusters as local innovation systems and knowledge integrators, focusing on innovative and cognitive aspects. In this way we have been able to represent these districts as the real engine for international development and survival. Finally, these studies have been projected on an industrial reality present in our national territory, the Cluster Arredo/Casa FVG. Through an empirical patent study and an analysis of knowledge integrators within this reality, we can therefore conclude by stating that forms of aggregation such as districts and clusters, registering a greater propensity to exploit the knowledge resource and a greater inclination to innovation and to the cognitive exchange, they still represent a survival model for the current strongly globalized context.