Clusters and the broader patterns of economic specialization across geographies have become an important concern for European policy makers. The new approaches to cluster analysis develop new conceptual dimensions that encapsulate the key aspects of this new phase and better enable all cluster stakeholders address the challenges confronted by regional economies. This requires a change of perspective where clusters are no longer seen as regionally bound constellations nurtured by regional economic systems but rather as `hubs' within a global system of flows of information, knowledge and economic activity. This is what the concept of extended and dynamic clustering is designed to capture.