Research-intensive clusters (RICs) are regions with a high density of research-oriented organizations. These regions may be informally designated, or may be represented by a formal association. Member organizations are often universities, businesses, and non-profit research institutes. Closely related concepts include

research association Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

s (in general), research parks,

technology cluster This is a list of technology centers throughout the world. Government planners and business networks often incorporate "silicon" or "valley" into place names to describe their own areas as a result of the success of Silicon Valley in Califor ...

s, and

economic cluster A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and glo ...

s. RICs differ from generic research associations in that the member organizations ''must'' be geographically close to one another. RICs differ from research parks in that the member organizations are in separate locations within a geographical region, and are not sharing the same ''exact'' location. RICs differ from technology and economic clusters because they focus on more research rather than on economic development ''per se'', though for-profit businesses may certainly be members of both types of groups. Other similar concepts include technology alliances and business parks. Technology alliances focus on economic development, often regardless of research-intensity or geographic density. Business parks provide infrastructure and facilities to businesses, but there is no requirement for research-intensity and all the member organizations share facilities in exactly the same location. __TOC__

List of research-intensive clusters

List of research-intensive clusters

References

Further reading