The globalization of innovation has made global linkages crucial for clusters to sustain technological dynamism. Using an original patent-based method to identify European clusters, our study investigates how the breakthrough performance of clusters is shaped by their ability to establish and leverage global ties and analyzes how this capability evolves over time to prevent cluster decline. We empirically compare clustered and non-clustered region-technology pairs, as well as active and declining clusters, across both manifest and latent periods. Our findings highlight that, unlike active clusters, declining clusters exhibit a lack of breakthrough capacity and an inability to effectively utilize global linkages.
