The Emergence of Formal Clusters in the Space Sector: An Explorative Case Study

The space economy has grown in recent years and it has spurred the interest of governments, international institutions and firms, including large multinational firms, small firms and startups. Being competitive in the space economy is increasingly complex as firms are supposed to beinnovative and capable of managing high degrees of uncertainty. Becoming a key player thus requires the ability to engage in collaborative relationships with other firms and knowledge providers, such as formal clustering, which is a recognized cooperative arrangement in the aerospace sector. This task is highly difficult for SMEs, particularly for those based in the “innovation periphery”, which might lack organisational and technological resources. Therefore this paper aims to explore the set up process of formal clusters in the aerospace sector, with a main focus on SMEs’ involvement and on peripheral contexts. To achieve this goal this paper examines the case study of the formal cluster Exploore, whose establishment has been completed in 2024 after a set up process started in 2021. Exploore includes firms belonging to various sectors and are based in the Marche region, which could be considered peripheral when compared to the historical regional hubs in the aerospace sector such as Lombardia, Lazio and Puglia. The development process of Exploore is examined through the Actor-Resource-Activity framework as proposed by the Business Network perspective. Preliminary results show that the Cluster has been setup through the orchestration effort of a few leading SMEs – already in the space value chain – in cooperation with a social network of Regional Government officials and experts/scientists active in Universities, Research Centres and large firms. Most of the participating actors have been involved in initial discussions and activities concerning the launch of joint projects in innovation management and marketing, whose competences are in great demand for competing in the Space Economy.