Applying an innovation cluster framework to a creative industry: The case of screen-based media in Ontario

The extension of the innovation cluster approach to creative industries is relatively recent. In this article we discuss the application of a formal cluster benchmarking model to a creative industry, the Ontario screen-based media industry (here defined as the film, television, and interactive digital media [IDM] sectors), the results of which shed insight into the ways that creative and technology-based clusters differ from one another. We discuss five challenges of approaching a creative industry in terms of an innovation cluster: 1) accurately understanding the nature and significance of innovation processes in cultural industries; 2) facilitating the linkages, spillovers, and externalities that are believed to be of strategic significance; 3) factoring in the clusters numerous trans-local external linkages; 4) innovation policy measures for labor, entrepreneurs, and small firms in media industries; 5) identifying cluster-specific implications of actual or potential policy measures for innovation in an industry in which policy influences are widespread.