The role of competitive economic clusters has increasingly dominated local and regional development policies in recent decades. Of particular interest are high-tech clusters in innovative R&D-intensive industries that draw on skilled employees and infrastructure in urban regions, e.g., bioscience megacenters. In this companion volume to the Handbook of Research on Cluster Theory by the same editor, Karlsson (economics of technological change, Jönköping International Business School, Jönköping U., Sweden) introduces two dozen chapters that present international case studies on the factors and policies conducive to, and the processes involved in, the growth of such functional and spatial economic clusters. An argument against government attempts to replicate Silicon Valley, other than facilitation by reducing taxes, concludes the volume. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)