As part of the annual series of Summer Courses run by the University of the Basque Country, which this year celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Basque Association of Development Agencies (GARAPEN) is organising a course with Fomento de San Sebastián about new models of local development in cities.

The aim is to discuss and analyse national and international experiences of new approaches to local development currently being implemented in cities, particularly in relation to the promotion of emerging industries using so-called cluster initiatives.

We are particularly interested in local level cluster models, beyond regional and national strategies, where towns and local organisations actively participate in and promote these processes. Regional clusters have had an intense role in industry, but paradoxically, in many cases they have been unable to integrate different levels of government other than at the level of the autonomous region or other regional agents.

Several cities have had important experiences in this area and can illustrate these models; some such examples will be present at this course: Oulu and its commitment to innovation; bio and nanotechnology clusters in Dortmund; the aeronautics industry in Seville; and the restructuring of Torino as an industrial city.

Experts in this field will also contribute to the course, providing a global and more conceptual view of these local development policies, thus combining theory and practice.

At this seminar, we hope to demonstrate that the future probably will involve a combination of innovation and public/private coordination, focusing on local leadership, in which the promotion of local clusters, particularly in relation to emerging industries, will be one of the key factors in a new nascent model for the development and economic promotion of cities.