Arizona State and Purdue activate Arizona's solar cluster
So, what does that mean?
A cluster represents a loose network of companies and organizations that share overlapping markets or technology platforms. The challenge of identifying clusters has largely been solved by grouping economic data into broadly defined business clusters. (Purdue and Indiana University have collaborated to produce a web site where civic leaders can draw custom regions and identify their clusters.)
Beyond analysis, we need to develop networks of open innovation among participants of a cluster.
Here is the hard part: Activation.
We activate the cluster when participants define a strategic agenda for collaborative investment and begin to execute on that agenda.
We use the new discipline a Strategic Doing to guide the process. Unlike strategic planning, this new discipline takes into account the complexities of designing and completing complex projects in open, loosely joined networks. It looks simple, and it is easy to understand. Yet, like most disciplines, it is not easy. The discipline of guiding open networks strategically takes practice to master.
In the case of the Arizona Solar Summit, we used this discipline to design the content for the Summit. We succeeded beyond our expectations. Over 120 people participated. We identified three priority collaborations in each of three strategic focus areas. We walked out with commitments from over 40 participants to implement these collaborative initiatives.
If the past is any prologue, this participation will grow. For example, we launched our activation of the Milwaukee 7 water cluster in July 2008 with commitments from about 25 companies. Now, over 100 are actively involved. The key to growing the cluster comes in defining strategic collaborations that generate shared value. As we do, the cluster grows.
Our collaborations in Arizona will explore complex topics such as utility rate decoupling, expanded transmission capacity for solar energy exports, the design of product development testbeds, and regulatory reform for existing solar installations in residential, commercial and industrial markets.
Here is a map of the emerging strategy from the Arizona Sola Summit.
Here is some of the background material we prepared for the participants. We also launched a web site to provide links to additional background.
We developed this new prototype of cluster activation, and the results look overwhelmingly positive.
