The theoretical framework of this thesis is the industrial economics applied to the analysis of technological innovation. Its main purpose is to assess the effects of competitiveness clusters policy on the incentives of firms to innovate. In particular, it aims to understand the informational mechanisms by which this new industrial policy impacts the levels of R&D investment of firms and their activities. The first chapter presents the general framework of the thesis and explains the elements of economic theory underlying the emergence of R&D based-clusters. The second chapter, our first theoretical contribution, analyzes the effects of clusters on R&D investments of firms which cooperate at the R&D stage and compete a la Cournot on product market in a two-stage game. The third chapter, our second theoretical contribution, focuses on the effects of the cluster in vertical relationship between a supplier of technology and integrators. The fourth chapter is intended to and illustrations for the theoretical results through informations gathered from actors of competitiveness clusters, specially in the case of Minalogic at Grenoble (Isere France).
