Entrepreneurs and cluster evolution: the transformation of Toronto’s ICT cluster

Abstract

Interest in information and communication technology (ICT) clusters has long been sustained by the power of emerging technologies to reinvent regional or local economies. Prior research has identified the structural conditions under which clusters form, decline or evolve, but much less is known about the agents responsible for cluster change. This paper examines the evolution of the Toronto ICT cluster from a location for foreign multinational firms in hardware and telecommunications into a more dynamic ecosystem for service-based domestic start-ups and emerging scale-ups. It contributes to the literature on clusters by showing how entrepreneurs have driven cluster evolution in Toronto.