Enhancing the Competitiveness of Peripheral Coastal Regions: Moving from Potential to Success

In this book, we assume the need for a more sustained and strategic vision for the Portuguese economy through a reindustrialization policy, for which the creation of a maritime cluster could give an important contribution. Taking full advantage of the natural resources offered by the enormous Portuguese EEZ requires a coordinated and integrated effort through interactive and mutually interdependent processes of coopetition (cooperation + competition) involving private and public actors, I&D institutions, sectoral organizations, and other relevant stakeholders. A clustering strategy built within a differentiation framework established for the particular case of maritime clusters and where the dynamics of innovation processes play a crucial role, will allow this complex ecosystem of distinctive economic sectors (fisheries and aquaculture, maritime tourism, naval repair/maintenance and shipbuilding, ports and shipping), comprehending groups of closely related and complementary public and private actors, to increase their competitiveness due to its unifying nature and capacity for mobilizing potential resources within a particular geographical area.