A knowledge hub to enhance the learning processes of an industrial cluster

Industrial clusters have been defined as “networks of production of strongly interdependent firms (including specialised suppliers), knowledge producing agents (universities, research institutes, engineering companies), institutions (brokers, consultants), linked to each other in a value adding production chain” (OECD Focus Group, 1999). The industrial clusters distinctive mode of production is a specialisation, based on a sophisticated division of labour, that leads to interlinked activities and need for cooperation, with consequent exchanges of localised knowledge, mainly tacit. In the new economic landscape of the Net Economy based on the Internetworked technologies, geographical industrial clusters may evolve towards new industrial agglomerations, that grasp the opportunities coming from these new technologies. In this new competitive space, inside the cluster, it is emerging a coevolution process, that develops between the networks of localised knowledge, based on face-to-face interactions, generally defined as local social networks, and the trans-local knowledge networks, based on Internet platforms. Following this view, in this paper we aim at presenting and discussing an Internet-based knowledge architecture, named Knowledge Hub (KH), conceived as an enabler of the dynamic externalities of the industrial cluster in the Net Economy. We’ll focus on: - a theoretical discussion about the cognitive space that develops within an industrial cluster, including both geographic clusters and new organisations based on the Internetworking technologies, - a presentation of the main functionalities of the KH, and of the value it can be generated for the cognitive space of an industrial cluster.