Silicon Valley in the Polder? Entrepreneurial Dynamics, Virtuous Clusters and Vicious Firms in the Netherlands and Flanders

High-technology starters do not operate in a vacuum and innovation is not a solitary activity. The activities of technology-based firms are embedded in socio-economic networks with other companies, investors, universities, vocational institutions, etc. The geographical proximity of those institutions and infrastructural hubs will partly play a role in determine the location of ICT firms decision. Furthermore, many high-tech companies shape clusters around areas where their major customers are located. The topic of this paper is regional clustering Enright, 1992; Rosenfeld, 1997within the context of Internet and ICT technology. A dynamic model previously developed for the analysis of ICT-entrepreneurship and networking will be applied to make a critical analysis of five ICT-clusters in the Netherlands and Flanders (Northern part of Belgium): the Louvain Technology Corridor, Flanders Language Valley, Amsterdam Alley, Dommel Valley, and Twente.