Clusters in the Caribbean: Understanding their Characteristics, Defining Policies for their Development

The aim of this paper is to map Caribbean clusters and identify their specific characteristics based on existing literature and available empirical evidence. A desk review of 32 clusters distributed across the Caribbean looks at natural resources (agriculture, agro-processing, forestry, aquaculture, and energy), manufacturing, and services (tourism, creative industries, and business services) industries. Three groups of clusters are identified: rising, innovative, and sluggish. Based on this classification, policy recommendations are provided considering the diverse characteristics of the investigated clusters.