In this LEDCast episode Christian Schoen of mesopartner and Dr. Christian von Luebke of Stanford University discuss the political economy at the district level in Indonesia. Christian von Luebke is a political economist with particular interest in governance and economic development in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia.

The conversation focuses on two research projects: The Political Economy of the Local Investment Climate in Indonesia und The Political Economy of Local Governance against the background of the recent democratisation and decentralisation processes in Indonesia. In a nutshell, the interview tries to find an answer to the crucial question: Why do some district governments in Indonesia perform well, why others perform rather poorly?

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In this episode, Frank Wältring of mesopartner interviews Dr. Göran Lindqvist on the learning experiences in cluster development since 2003. Dr. Lindqvist is an associate at the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) at the Stockholm School of Economics. He is also a co-author of the Cluster Greenbook (2003) and several other publications on clusters.

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In this LEDCast episode, Frank Waeltring interviews Ifor Ffowcs-Williams on the role of a "cluster facilitator". The difference between cluster management and cluster facilitation is discussed. Different kinds of funding and its implications are also elaborated on and the roles of different cluster facilitators are described. The main challenges for future cluster initiatives are also explored.

Frank Waeltring is a partner in mesopartner (www.mesopartner.com). Ifor Ffowcs-Williams is an international cluster development expert and is the CEO of the niche economic development consulting firm Cluster Navigators (http://www.clusternavigators.com). His blogsite is at (http://e4oncompetitiveness.com/  ).