# 2 Cluster participants
Creation of shared values only in the process of competition between businesses is challenging. Collaboration between businesses can provide them with opportunities to strive together for greater goals such as become export-oriented or jointly launch new products, based on innovation. As experience shows, successful clusters have community-wide involvement. Local schools, Universities, research institutions, trade and professional associations, economic development agencies and others support their activities and are key ingredients in a high performance cluster. The quality of this soft infrastructure, and the extent of teamwork within it, are key determinants of the development of any cluster.
Source: Orjan Solvell. On Strategy and Competitiveness: 10 Recipes for Analytical Success. 2015
See The Cluster Initiative Greenbook for more information.
