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European Urban and Regional Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, 229-246 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0969776405056594

Technological Life-Cycles

Lessons from a Cluster Facing Disruption

Bent Dalum

Aalborg University, Denmark, bd{at}business.aau.dk

Christian Ø.R. Pedersen

Aalborg University, Denmark

Gert Villumsen

Aalborg University, Denmark

New disruptive technological life-cycles may initiate the emergence of new regional industrial clusters or create opportunities for further development of existing ones. They may, however, also result in stagnation and decline. For clusters in many of the fast developing technologies, the evolution is closely related to shifts in technological life-cycles. During the 1980s and 1990s new mobile communications technologies have emerged as a series of distinct life-cycles, which have caused major disruptions in the industry. The paper examines the key features of a cluster in wireless communications technologies, where the economic evolution has been quite closely related to the emergence of new key technologies. The analysis is focused on the strategy and policy issues involved in the specific phase where one technological life-cycle may (or may not?) be succeeded by the next. When facing disruption the actors in the cluster have discussed various strategies for how to cope with shifts in the technological life-cycles. We find that there is room and need for policy and collective action in periods of uncertainty created by new disruptive technological life-cycles.

Key Words: communication technology • regional clusters • technological life-cycles


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