nowEurope

Just recently a mail was forwarded to me, whose original author was Mr. Sergiy Protsiv from the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness (CSC) in Stockholm. The mail provided information on a document published four times a year with the title: “European Cluster Organisation Directory”. This database represents 1,100 clusters across 203 regions (NUTS II classification) and 142 industry indicators.

After trying out the database for a while, I found it to be a helpful source of contacts. It provides a rough picture of what is happening in cluster work around Europe and which areas are most active and advanced. It is definitely not just a tool for first glance information, but rather a detailed source of crucial information about many clusters in Europe.  The European Cluster Organisation Directory presents itself as the first comprehensive compilation of cluster organisations in Europe.

Continue reading ‘European Cluster Organisation Directory’

This is the second part of the SWOT analysis performed for the CITT project. (Part one is here.) This post examines the external factors: opportunities and threats.

Continue reading ‘Does Centrope have the potential for an ICT cluster? (part two)’

Finding the answer to this question is a central goal of the Centrope ICT Technology Transfer project (CITT). The project is comprised of six partners in four countries – Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia – and funded by European Community.

To reach this answer, we performed a SWOT analysis, focusing our attention on the ICT sector. Here are the results of this analysis – the first part. (I’m dividing this work into two parts, due to the length of the text.)

Continue reading ‘Does Centrope have the potential for an ICT cluster? (part one)’

I would like to express my support to ideas and arguments of Mr. Vit Skala in his post, Facilitators vs. Managers. I believe that a combination of sales activities and project management, as it is usual commercial practice, should be a model for cluster building.

Mr Skala suggests the following approach of cluster creation: A Facilitator should lead the project or cluster in the formative stages, and a manager takes the responsibility for the running stages. The approach which Mr. Skala suggests is already applied as a standard business practice in the commercial world for project delivery.

The ‘project’ is the predominant method for the delivery of products or services in many different industries. During the sale phase of the project, a sales manager (account manager or salesman) is the driver of the business case. His goal is to sell the project, to attract potential customers and to demonstrate the potential benefits and advantages of accepting his offer. He makes promises on behalf of his company. These tasks require very much the same talents, skills, abilities as a facilitator of cluster creation. (A cluster is anyway a project.)

Continue reading ‘Cluster is just another word for ‘project’’

This is the title of a conference that took place in Berlin in September last year. The conference was organized by the European Academy for Taxes, Economics & Law, with the support of European Commission. Speakers and participants were from all over Europe. It was demonstrated that in the vast majority of EU countries governments – both national and regional – recognized the potential of clusters as drivers of the innovation process and they are strongly supporting them. Importance of clusters is even more valuated by European Commission, which is supporting and financing different programs, initiatives and events related to clusters.

Why am I writing about this conference?

It was source of many interesting and useful information for anybody who participates in the work and/or management of some cluster. Unfortunately there is not a web page, where one could find all conference presentations. I will mention some of them, who drew my attention and where a web page was presented.

Continue reading ‘Cluster Policy and Management – European and Regional Initiatives for Innovation’