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The Development of Intelligent Local Clusters to Increase Global Competitiveness and Local Cohesion: The Case of Small Businesses in the Creative Industries

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer potential to enhance the global competitiveness and local cohesion of emergent creative industries using virtual networks. This paper draws on a case study based on a pilot project in Manchester's creative sector, the Northern Quarter. The aim was to introduce advanced ICTs to creative micro businesses and explore the relationship between physical and digital networking. ICTs were found to bring local businesses closer together in the development and training phases and to provide an impetus to the development of electronic trading. The lasting benefits of the project for local cohesion are less clear and the reasons for this are discussed.