Virtual high tech clusters - the modern silicon valley?

Silicon Valley - often imitated, but never succeeded. High tech clusters have been for years and still are the attraction for many companies and investors to settle down in one of those lucrative regions in order to get a big share of the profit that is gained there. The economic conditions, that new start-ups find there, are apparently so favourable that economic success is inevitable. Now, a new generation of success stories is ready to start virtual high tech clusters. In recent years rapid developments in information technology have dramatically changed the availability of information. It is now almost possible to get any information at any place in the world at any time. Virtual enterprises and communities are the consequence in order to keep up with competitors. This paper tries to identify the ingredients that are responsible for the success of high tech cluster, and describes an approach of the Technische Universitat Munchen to bring European´s Space companies and research institutes together into a virtual network and to form a virtual high tech cluster. Suitable platforms and tools are evaluated.