ABSTRACT

               Social capital formation in clusters recently became a research topic of high interest for many scholars, policy makers and professionals worldwide. This paper proposes a methodological framework based on five indicators that explain the cluster driver Networks and partnerships - 1. number of partnership arrangements, 2. number of co-operation agreements, 3. number of networking events, 4. number of joint research activities and 5. the extent of social capital - and encourages their application in the case of Life Science Nord German cluster. Being essentially a case study-focused paper, this article extends the literature by offering a theoretical perspective on the terminology needed to discover the possibilities of fostering social capital at the cluster level and to bring evidence from the case of a mature life science industrial cluster, which is currently belonging to an emerging industry.

                Keywords: cluster, emerging industries, life sciences, social capital, competitive advantage.

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