This paper deals with the relationship between the clustering potential and the actually created cluster structures in Poland. The authors compared the level of concentration of entities representing creative industries, expressed as the Location Quotient (LQ), with the locations of the creative clusters actually existing in Poland. The questions to which answers were sought were: (1) what is the geographical distribution of clustering potential where creative industries are concerned? (2) which gminas (units of local-government administration) are home to the entities forming the creative clusters?, and (3) are cluster structures really emerging in the areas offering the greatest clustering potential? To answer these questions, the authors conducted two analyses, of which the first led to a conclusion that – where the accepted interpretation of the LQ value is applied – only 1.9% of Poland’s gminas have conditions allowing for the building of creative specialisations, including via the development of creative clusters (where more stringent requirements are adopted, that share actually reduces further to 0.6%). Furthermore, the group in question shows a clearly-dominant role for gminas of Mazowieckie voivodship (province-region). In general, the distribution of creative entities across Poland is seen to be uneven, though it does correspond with the distribution of population through the country. Visible concentrations of the entities analysed were thus to be observed around the Metropolitan Areas of Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Łódź, the Tri-City (Gdańsk-Gdynia-Sopot) and Upper Silesia, as well as around Rybnik and Bielsko. A second result relates to the distribution of creative clusters, of which some 17 are to be noted. As of 2019, these each had between 4 and 66 members. Detailed analysis further confirms the very uneven geographical distribution, with Śląskie and in part also Małopolskie voivodships clearly dominant. Each of the remaining voivodeships have a maximum of two creative clusters. The two results obtained were then combined (Figs. 2 and 3), in line with an assumption that comparison of the clustering potential and the distribution of existing clusters would supply a positive and moderate correlation. In the event, no such result was obtained, with the coefficient for the correlation between the number of all surveyed entities in municipalities and the number of entities included in a cluster being: R=0.16. A similar result (of R=0.26) was obtained by examining the correlation between LQ and the numbers of entities forming clusters. This result shows that creative clusters are not established in Poland in the areas of the country offering the best conditions in terms of numbers of potential member entities. It follows that the creation of cluster structures is determined by other factors. These may include activity on the part of cluster facilitators, as well as the latter’s talent for acquiring new members for a cluster initiative, as well as the prospect of external funding being obtained. It is nevertheless endogenous potential that should be the driving force, given the favourable conditions it provides for economic specialisation to be pursued – as the basis upon which to build proper cluster structures.
Development of geographical distribution of the population in Czechia after 2000: post-transformation tendencies?
