In the background, the macroeconomic situation has shaken powerful industries, clustered wealth in fewer hands, democratized innovation, and ignited the mainstream popularity of attempting to building the next Facebook.
Belfast's skyline has been transformed as new office buildings, apartments and industries cluster the city's waterfront.
Much has been written about the benefits of industries "clustering" together, as they do in Hollywood, Silicon Valley or the City of London.
Not all of them can succeed.In addition, when industries cluster in one location, pollution also concentrates in the same spot.
We argue that industries cluster because entrepreneurs find it difficult to leverage the social ties necessary to mobilize essential resources when they reside far from those resources.
There are famous industry clusters, such as Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Wall Street.
New companies, and emerging industry clusters, seek to build on and tap the skills of older clusters.
In addition to the passenger airport, there were 1,800 jobs tied to the aerospace industry cluster at the site.
Mark Lewis is technical manager of the North East Process Industry Cluster, a group set up to promote Teesside's industries and make them more efficient.
Despite containing fiercely competitive firms, the growth of these industry clusters has been helped by skills sharing, through trade bodies and overlapping board memberships.
