Anatomy of Cluster Development: Emergence and Convergence in the US Human Biotherapeutics, 1976–2003

This chapter examines the spatial and temporal dimension of a variety of forms of entrepreneurship across cities in the United States in the human biotherapeutics. The first finding is that clusters grow predominantly through the investments of local entrepreneurs, local firms, and local venture capitalists. Second, for three of the regions with the largest clusters — San Diego, Boston, and San Francisco — the critical spur to growth appears to be a tendency of entrepreneurs to leave local, established firms to found additional firms. Moreover, only those regions, however, that exhibited this...

This chapter examines the spatial and temporal dimension of a variety of forms of entrepreneurship across cities in the United States in the human biotherapeutics. The first finding is that clusters grow predominantly through the investments of local entrepreneurs, local firms, and local venture capitalists. Second, for three of the regions with the largest clusters — San Diego, Boston, and San Francisco — the critical spur to growth appears to be a tendency of entrepreneurs to leave local, established firms to found additional firms. Moreover, only those regions, however, that exhibited this secondary, or second-generation growth grew to substantial sizes relative to other clusters. The attraction of entrepreneurs and firms to a region is a tertiary influence on growth, occurring late in the history of the industry and the clusters.