Paper to be presented at the DRUID Tenth Anniversary Summer Conference 2005 on DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION: ORGANIZATIONS, NETWORKS AND SYSTEMS Copenhagen, Denmark, June 27-29, 2005 Track: Inter-firm Networks, Projects and Clusters CONTEXTUALIZING CLUSTERS IN TIME AND SPACE: LONG-TERM DYNAMICS, SYSTEMS OF REGIONS, AND EXTRA-REGIONAL INTERDEPENDENCIES Jerker Moodysson # , Magnus Nilsson, Martin Svensson Henning Department of Social and Economic Geography at Lund University, Sweden Sölvegatan 12 SE-22362 Lund Sweden Tel: +46-(0)46-2228762 Fax: +46-(0)46-2228401 E-mail: Jerker.Moodysson@keg.lu.se Date of submission: 01/06/2005 Abstract: Based on recent research findings, this paper highlights three important aspects of a contextual approach to the study of regional clusters. Firstly, the growth of regional clusters must be analyzed in a perspective of larger patterns of structural change (historical contextualization). Secondly, regional interdependence in national or global systems must be taken into account (system contextualization). Thirdly, intra- and extra-cluster network relations must be analyzed on equal terms and not as distinct phenomena (relational contextualization). These arguments are supported by empirical illustrations from the Scanian life science cluster in the south of Sweden. Keywords: Cluster, System, Regions, Life Science, Sweden JEL - code(s). L65, O18, O33