William HoffmanBiomedical Engineering Institute

& MBBNetUniversity of Minnesota

A Cluster of InnovationMBBNet

Minnesota Biomedical and Bioscience Network

Geographically concentrated groups of interconnected companies and

associated institutions in a particular field linked by common technologies and skills

The Competitive Advantage of Nations, 1990

Michael E. Porter Harvard Business School

What are Clusters?

National innovative capacity depends on

the strength of the national innovation infrastructure

the environment for innovation in its leading industrial clusters, and

the strength of linkages between these two areas.

Stern, Porter & Furman National Bureau Economic Research September 2000

Clusters and Innovation

Stern, Porter & Furman, 2000

Measuring National Innovation Capacity

The National Innovation System

“complex adaptive system”

“dense web of individuals, private organizations and public bodies”

“propensity toward clustering”

Popper & Wagner U.S. Innovation System

RAND: S & T Policy Institute January 2002

Clusters and Innovation

Social Networks

“The locus of innovation is found in a network of interorganizational relationships.”

Powell, Koput & Smith-Doerr “Networks of Learning

in Biotechnology” ASQ, 1996

Clusters and Innovation

World’s largest cluster-driven

Web portal in the life sciences

& health care fields

MBBNet

For “biomedical community”

1. Harvard Biomedical Technology Gateway

2. MBBNet

For “bioscience community”

1. Bay Area Biosciences Center 2. MBBNet

Google Search

Biomedical Clusters

Jeff Johnson – Hybrid Medical Animation

First transatlantic cluster-to-cluster Web portal link

1,400 organizations in the two regions

U of M – biomedical engineering & biotechnology

Zurich MedNet - Winterthur Consortium & Zurich Network

New Product Design & Business Development NPDBD

Faculty & student exchange [U of M Global Seminar]

Winterthur Investment Summits

MBBNet – Zurich MedNet Link

BioCluster Upgrading:Factor-creating investment

Stem cell technology and regenerative medicine

Biomaterials and biosensors Miniaturization and nanotechnology Technology-enhanced health services

The Global Technology Revolution

National Intelligence Council / RAND 2001

Knowledge resources

Human resourcesCapital resourcesInfrastructure