Hello,
The following is a comment made by Graytek Management in accordance to ICT clusters in Canada:
“ICT is a mature sector dominated by a small number of large global companies surrounded by an array of smaller niche players and component suppliers. In Canada, the large companies are increasingly foreign multinational enterprises and they are dominant players in all of the clusters studied except Vancouver. The multinational enterprises need to be encouraged to develop stronger local roots, particularly in the R&D and commercialization/production areas to ensure that they remain in the cluster. The multinational enterprises are also in a position to assist local companies by developing supplier relationships, something that is generally not evident at present.” http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ict-tic.nsf/vwapj/107730e.pdf/$FILE/107730e.pdf
The statement suggests something about clusters that I haven’t acknowledged until now. I always assumed that all surrounding organizations would be readily welcomed into a cluster to stem further growth and innovation, but it seems that as a cluster matures competition to even belong to the cluster intensifies. The amount of small support software companies that can spring up in a mature ICT cluster are quite high, especially in the GTA, and competition amongst them to remain in the cluster and receive all its benefits can be quite competitive. This goes to show that only the most innovative and creative members in mature ICT clusters have their future presence guaranteed in the cluster. The image dictates the distribution of GTA ICT facilities by sector in 2003, and can provide a hint on where the sector is heading in this increasingly competitive marketplace.
Till Next Time….
GS
