Badanie powstawania i rozwoju klastrów wysokotechnologicznych na przykładzie OPTOKLASTRA na Mazowszu

Nowadays, clusters based on Alfred Marshall's "industrial districts" are considered to be one of the main drivers of regional competitiveness. According to Porter an industrial cluster is "a geographic cooperative group that includes suppliers, consumers, peripheral industries, governments and supporting institutions such as universities". Clusters are determined by several factors: concentration of small and medium enterprises, common culture of the enterprises, strong linkages between them (they are cooperators as well competitors) and innovative environment. In this paper the authors analyze conditions for building and developing the cluster within optoelectronic branch in Mazowsze and they describe the process of formation of OPTOKLASTER. OPTOKLASTER is a first formalized high-tech cluster in Mazowiecki Region. lt's a common initiative of 25 optoelectronic companies, institutions and other organizations localized in Mazowsze. In October 2007 they signed an initial agreement about launching of the Mazovian Photonic Technology Cluster "OPTOKLASTER". The authors search factors typical for industrial cluster in chosen sector. Except for, they map of existing knowledge and information flows in analyzed sector, in particular: linkages among enterprises and linkages between enterprises, R&D institutions and institutions supported innovation and technology transfer. The authors focuse on formal and informal relations between particular elements of OPTOKLASTER and try to define the intensity, directions and forms of interactions within analyzed cluster, influence of collaboration on innovation activities of optoelectronic in situations and companies as well as attitude of all partners towards collaboration within OPTOKLASTER. As a result of the research the authors points at OPTOKLASTER's strengths, weaknesses and possibilities of developing.