A Spatial ICT Clusters in Sweden – An Empirical Method to Identify Necessary Conditions for Existence

An empirical method to identify the existence of a spatial cluster is proposed. The method, based upon regression analysis, offers researchers to categorise regions, municipalities, or cities with respect to their over- or under-representation in number of establishments and employment for any arbitrary industry. It is suggested that a necessary condition for the existence of a cluster entails a significant overrepresentation in both the number of establishments as well as in employment for any given sector in a region. Furthermore, this over-representation should be related to the size of the region. The categorisation generated by the proposed method has evident policy implications for any region aiming at developing and supporting a potential or emerging cluster. This paper offers an analysis of the ICT-sector in Sweden, where the proposed method is used to identify potential clusters in the 81 Swedish functional regions. A comparison in time between 1990 and 2000 is also presented.