The universities behind the economic boom of countries

case of innovative clusters

Abstract

In 1990, PORTER proposed its diamond-shaped competitiveness model highlighting the factors that contribute to boosting the competitiveness of both industry and nations. One of the main ideas of his theory of competitiveness is the concept of "cluster" that arises from the cooperation between universities and companies that are interdependent and competing. Currently, politicians and economists are increasingly attracted by the development of clusters that allow companies to remain competitive and have already proven themselves. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the sine qua non role played by universities in the economic development of countries in the era of the knowledge economy marked by the prominence of knowledge-based industries. To shed more light on this, we are going to look at the world leader in innovative clusters, Silicon Valley, whose GDP currently exceeds that of France and owes its unprecedented success to Stanford University. We will approach in a second stage the few clusters created recently in Algeria and which remain embryonic in the absence of a true policy of entrepreneurship and innovation