The classification between top-down and bottom-up clusters is misleading. In the conceptual framework we distinguish between public-driven and private-driven clusters, so that in the revised version we focused on this type of distinction and cut all descriptions on top-down and bottom-up clusters.
sections 4.3 to 4.5 leave an impression that the assessment of these cases as ‘bottom-up’ is not completely justified. The authors seem to assume that cluster policies are either bottom-up or top-down, without any shades of grey in between. Compared to the Japanese cases, the French and German cases are clearly more bottom-up, but they still display clear – if not dominant – elements of top-down governance and public agency. This dichotomy should be refined and the classification of cases qualified as, e.g., ‘relatively bottom-up’.