In a piece in this column a year ago (“Of Industry Clusters, Venture Capital and the Feds,” MHT 4/3/09), I noted that the then recently appointed Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills would focus some of her energy on aligning SBA with other federal agencies so as to create a more unified development strategy built on industry cluster theory.
Industry clusters — geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, suppliers and service providers in a region — represent an economic development strategy popularized by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, a collaborator and mentor to Mills. Porter has been the most visible and active catalyst for cluster theory as a strategic imperative for regional innovation and economic development.
At a recent conference Mills reflected on her first year in office, not from the perspective of where she’s spent the majority of time — trying to re-activate credit markets for small businesses — but on the success she had perceived in catalyzing alignment of federal agencies. There’s good evidence that Mills’ fingerprints can be seen in both current and future initiatives.
To read the full, original article click on this link: SBA's Mills making progress in forming clusters - Mass High Tech Business News
Author: Michael Gurau
