The question of the role of the state in the creation of competitive clusters and innovation systems has drawn increased attention in recent years. Drawing on Mariana Mazzucato’s concept of “the entrepreneurial state,” this article investigates the role of the public sector in the development of the Danish robotics cluster, a world-leading cluster for production of industrial robots that has developed after the closing of Maersk’s shipyard in the city of Odense. In what ways did public programs and actors contribute to the development of this cluster? In what ways did public programs facilitate entrepreneurs, and when did they function as agents or perhaps even risk-takers? To answer these questions, this article tracks three layers of public agency: the local, the national, and the European. This article concludes that there were crucial initiatives at all three levels and that these initiatives were not coordinated, but nevertheless connected by a certain zeitgeist—the idea of public institutions taking responsibility for the competitiveness of private companies, an idea that blossomed in the period of high globalization from the late 1980s to the 2000s. In other words, what united the efforts of the public sector was not any master plan but an underlying thought collective that made the workings of “the entrepreneurial state” flexible and fit for the unpredictable nature of innovation. Thus, this article argues that industrial policy did not wither away in the age of neoliberalism but changed its form in an increasing complexity of state-market relations.

近年来，国家在创建竞争性集群和创新系统中的作用问题引起了越来越多的关注。本文以马里亚纳·马佐卡托（Mariana Mazzucato）的“企业家国家”概念为基础，研究了公共部门在丹麦机器人技术集群发展中的作用。丹麦机器人技术集群是世界领先的工业机器人生产集群，在马士基船厂关闭后发展起来。欧登塞市。公共计划和参与者以什么方式为该集群的发展做出了贡献？公共计划以什么方式为企业家提供了便利，它们何时充当代理甚至冒险者的角色？为了回答这些问题，本文跟踪了公共代理机构的三个层次：本地，国家和欧洲。时代精神-公共机构对私营公司的竞争力负责的想法，这种想法在1980年代后期至2000年代的高度全球化时期盛行。换句话说，使公共部门共同努力的不是总体规划，而是使“企业家国家”的工作灵活且适合不可预测的创新性质的潜在思想团体。因此，本文认为，在新自由主义时代，产业政策并没有消亡，而是随着国家-市场关系日益复杂化而改变了形式。