Organizing of the Maritime cluster in Western Sweden

Research Project, 2014 – 2015

This project has aimed to understand the current state of organizing and collaborating in the maritime cluster in West Sweden, in order to deepen the knowledge about what role such an actor can play for growth and innovation in the region. A specific focus has been the goals, visions and roles that the different organizational actors involved express. Such focus entails exploring:

-       The expressed goals of the different organizations involved

-       The different roles that individuals/organizations take and give in the collaborative work

-       The type of collaboration that appears to be desired and achieved

As a result, this study presents a number of findings and recommendations for critical issues that the management and organizers of the maritime cluster in West Sweden need to consider to ensure a viable development of the cluster.

Drawing upon experiences from researchers as well as practitioners, it is clear that the complexity of the identified issues increase with the number of collaborators, and that the management of the different interfaces between participating organizations and individuals become central challenges. It is important to recognize already from the beginning that managing a multi-actor collaboration implies orchestrating complex social processes. It is by fostering such processes that interaction between different actors can take place and create new knowledge as well as reveal new business opportunities and sustainable solutions if successful.