ABSTRACT
All over the globe, policy initiatives aim to create regional clusters within life science.1 Indeed, in addition to the existing hot spots such as those in California and Massachusetts, several regions in the US, Asia and Europe compete on becoming a world-leading hub in a certain niche. There are several underlying reasons for this aim to create strong regional agglomerations. First, following the acclaimed success of regions such as Silicon Valley and Route 128 it is a common view that success lies in forming strong regions or clusters. Also, for the case of life science, the importance of strong clusters has been thoroughly documented (Cooke, 2001). However, in what ways such regions could or should be formed or strengthened is still up for debate.
