This paper investigates the dynamic impact of new-to-the-cluster firms on the transfer of technologies and the evolution of emerging footwear clusters in Brazil. It analyses the diffusion path of four innovations over thirty years of evolution of the Cariri cluster in Brazil. Relevant information was collected from the entire cluster. It emerges from the findings that relocated firms were important in the first fifteen years to set the cluster on track with state-of-art innovations, to attract start-ups and suppliers, and to connect the industrial cluster with others in Brazil, Italy and China. In the second fifteen years, relocated firms lost their importance in bringing innovations to the region but gained in disseminating innovations through labour mobility.

Kulzer Sacilotto, Cintia (2014). Dynamics of the Diffusion of Innovations in Industrial Clusters: The Dynamic Role of Relocated Firms. Unpublished, work in progress.