Clusters influence the way in which firms cooperate, organise, and compete but clusters and their related benefits rarely come spontaneously in a straight line of expansion. It is argued that clusters typically develop in accordance with a life cycle, which includes an evolutionary sequence of steps where actors from the private and public sector are engaged and where one or more cluster facilitators are coordinating and promoting the process. In literature, the role of cluster facilitators has almost exclusively been described as static, leaving a research gap about how this particular role changes during the life cycle of clusters. Inspired from that, this paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between cluster development and cluster facilitation. It brings forward a framework for describing and discussing the exact changes taking place with the role of cluster facilitators, including the facilitation focus, competencies, and tasks they make use of along the cluster life cycle. This investigation is based on a multiple case study consisting of nine different clusters located in Denmark.

Given the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of space in the global economic system has emerged as critical in a hitherto unprecedented way. Even as large-scale, globally operating digital platform enterprises find new ways to thrive in the midst of a crisis, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nestled in local economies have proven to be fragile to shocks, causing countless local economies to unravel in the face of severe challenges to survival. Here, we discuss the role of entrepreneurship in re-building local economies that are more resilient. Specifically, we take a spatial perspective and highlight how the COVID-19 crisis has uncovered problems in the current tendency for thin contextualisation and promotion of globalisation. Based on this critique, we outline new perspectives for thinking about the relationship between entrepreneurship, resilience and local economies. Here, a particular emphasis is given to resilience building through deeply contextualised policies and research, localised flows of products and labour, and the diversification of local economies.

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