To complement our data on agglomeration we use two additional cluster performance indicators: innovation index and world export share. However we are using not exact values of the indices, but rather a 3-point scale so that the indicators serve to assess general performance of a region/cluster in the respective area.

Innovation index is based on the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2006 conducted by Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)¹. We are using the compound RIS index which itself consists of seven innovation indicators ranging from Participation in life-long learning to EPO patent applications. The value of an index lies within interval of 0 to 1 with the region with highest RIS scoring 0.90 (Stockholm, Sweden). RIS is calculated for the region as a whole, without any division by cluster categories. So it can only indicate the general innovation climate within a region.

RIS was conducted in EU25 NUTS 2 regions therefore not all of the countries in scope of European Cluster Observatory were present in the results (EEA countries, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey were absent). Apart from that, United Kingdom was only assessed on NUTS level 1. Therefore we decided to assign the RIS value of a NUTS 1 region to the NUTS 2 regions constituting it.

The 3-point scale was used to simplify the representation of RIS in the tables of European Cluster Observatory. All regions with available RIS data were ranked according to it, the bottom third got the “Low” value, the second quantile got “Medium” and the top third was assigned a “High” mark.

Exports data is based on the International Cluster Competitiveness Project conducted by Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School². The underlying data represented the world’s share of a country in exports of a given cluster category. We have determined the 3-point scale values for countries and then assigned them to all the regions within a country (i.e. all German regions have got the same value for Automotive).

The values we assigned are:
• “Weak” if a country’s share in a given cluster is less than its share in overall exports
• “Strong” if the exports in a cluster divided by overall exports were within 1 to 2 limits
• “Very strong” value was assigned if the countries share in a cluster was at least twice as large as its overall share


¹ For more information, please see: 2006 European Regional Innovation Scoreboard, MERIT, 2006
² Results available at http://data.isc.hbs.edu/iccp/index.jsp