It is with great pleasure to announce that Rethinking Clusters Workshop will host Professor Ron Boschma as panelist in an exciting round table on future research on clusters.
Ron Boschma is Full Professor in Regional Economics at the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University. He is also Professor in Innovation Studies at the University of Stavanger, UiS Business School.
Ron has been member of the Research, Innovation and Science Experts (RISE) High-Level Advisory Body to European Commissioner Carlos Moedas in 2015-2016. Since 2015, he is Board member of the International Regional Studies Association. He was ranked by Thomson Reuters among the top 1% of cited researchers worldwide in 2014, 2015 and 2016. On July 4 2013, Ron Boschma received a Honorary Doctorate in the Natural Sciences (“Doktor der Naturwissenschaften ehrenhalber”) from Marburg University (Fachbereich Geographie) in Germany. He is also member of Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities) since 2009 and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences since 2012.
Ron is heading a research group of about 17 researchers at the Department of Economic Geography at Utrecht University that aims to work out conceptually and empirically the outlines of Evolutionary Economic Geography.
He has widely published in international journals on Evolutionary Economic Geography, the spatial evolution of industries, regional systems of innovation, the structure and evolution of networks, agglomeration externalities and regional growth. Over the past 10 years, his research group in Utrecht has risen to international prominence as evolutionary economic strands of thinking and have generated substantial interest in the international economic geography and innovation studies community.
His intense research activity has deeply contributed to advancements in Evolutionary Economic Geography, developing theoretical frameworks and empirical tools to conduct research on the structural dimension of regional development. He received worldwide attention after developing and applying in different contexts the concept of related variety, as important and key element of the economic development and resilience of regions. His approaches and methods influenced an international academic debate on a theoretical and policy level on the matter of regional diversification and smart specialization strategies.
Ron Boschma is also Editor of the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society; Associate Editor of Industrial and Corporate Change; Associate Editor of Papers in Regional Science; Associate Editor Regional Studies and member of Editorial Boards of Economic Geography; Regional Studies, Regional Science; Review of Regional Research (Jahrbuch fur Regionalwissenschaft); Turkish Journal of Human Geography.