Question

Discussion Board Post:

Because it seems to happen serendipitously, I’d like to understand more about pure agglomeration clusters. Give an example of a successful pure agglomeration cluster with comments on what makes it synergistic.

Answer 1

Founded in 1779, Tampere is the third biggest town in Finland with a population of around 200,000. The total population of the Central Tampere Region is about 300,000. Tampere has a lengthy industrial history, and Finland's industrialization can even be claimed to have started in Tampere. The cotton mills and paper mills were the primary industrial forces in Tampere.

Today, the town is promoting a varied and regulated cluster-based specialization, particularly in the areas of ICT, health and biotechnology, mechanical engineering and automation, media and communication, and business services that are intensive in expertise. Universities, research institutes, technology centers and other government and semi-public support organizations support companies belonging to these clusters.

The origins of Tampere's digital media agglomeration go far back in history. Only a clutch of distinct businesses existed in different branches in the early 1990s that were loosely linked to each other. The agglomeration subsequently grew very quickly and in the early 1990s attained its present form. There have also appeared many new company operations and businesses. For example, in the mid-1990s, the "Internet Revolution" generated the new media business that subsequently drastically transformed. It has even been asserted that something like new media is no longer there.