This report is part of the Metropolitan Policy Program’s Project on State and Metropolitan Innovation, which, as a series, analyzes state policy challenges and offers practical, low-cost strategies for state policymakers to help states and metros recover from the Recession.

Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program and co-author of the report, said states should bring in a new generation of cluster programs designed to catalyze more entrepreneurship and job creation. Such efforts should not only represent something entirely different from traditional business relocation-oriented programs, but improve upon and sharpen existing cluster and cluster-relevant offerings for metropolitan regions.

Among the recommendations of the report:

• Reorient existing economic development programs, policies, and initiatives to support clusters
• Establish a modest grants program to address discrete gaps in cluster performance
• Develop and use data and rigorous analysis to identify clusters, target policy, and track performance