Clusters are individuals - VDI/VDE-IT

2.2.2 SIZE OF CLUSTERS
For the purpose of this project the size of clusters was measured
in terms of numbers of members who are committed
to the work of the cluster management organization. A committed
member is a member who meets at least one of the
following criteria:
• The member has signed a membership agreement, a
letter of intent or a similar form of written commitment;
• The member pays membership fee or provides financial
support for the cluster management on a regular basis
(this may also include in-kind contributions or staff
working time);
• The member contributes actively to the development of
the cluster on a regular basis, e.g. through the participation
in projects, workshops or working groups.
Figure 4 presents the composition of the membership of
clusters in terms of total number of members. The total
number includes members from the following categories:
SME 13 , Non-SME, R&D institutions, universities, training and
education providers, financial intermediaries, consultants,
governmental agencies and others. The size of a cluster does
not correlate with its business and innovation potential or its
utilization: it is the quality of the members that is important.
The size of a cluster does not necessarily depend on the size
of the national economy. Although the economies of Germany
and Denmark are very much different in terms of the
numbers of economic players, clusters in these two countries
have a similar size. The size of clusters in Poland is quite
small given the size of the Polish economy; but clusters may
further grow in the future given the very young history of
GERMANY
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
SWEDEN
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
NORWAY
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
FINLAND
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
DENMARK
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
ICELAND
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
POLAND
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
Figure 4: Size of clusters (total number of committed members)
13 Based on the SME definition of the European Commission (Recommendation 2003/361/EC
regarding the SME definition) this benchmarking considers a company as a SME if it has no more than
250 employees.
19