Competitiveness School
The Competitiveness School: the annual forum for policy makers and senior economic development practitioners
The Competitiveness School programme is designed to be an enriching experience specifically tailored for senior policy-making officers and seasoned professionals in economic development. The course typically gathers participants from a wide array of countries and diverse areas of competitiveness and cluster-related fields. It offers the opportunity to network with peers, learn from the faculty members and engage with new perspectives.
The class's participants benefit from a deep understanding of clusters and cluster initiatives and their application in economic development and competitiveness policies. The programme aims to give an in-depth overview of the core principles, methodology, and strategies delivered during the Foundation for Cluster and Competitiveness's more extended training programmes. It is a highly insightful workshop
The Competitiveness School is an annual programme in Barcelona, but several sessions have also been held in Washington, D.C., in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank.
A mind-provoking event not to be missed.
Competitiveness School 2025
26 - 30 May 2025
+ Online follow up
24-25 September 2025
This year’s programme focuses on the fundamentals of jobs and prosperity creation by making clusters more competitive and sustainable. We have sounded our alumnae, and there is a strong need at this moment to build prosperity back from the bottom up, independent of trade wars or geopolitical shifts. We also want to emphasise the government's role in this endeavour and no better test bed for soft industrial policies than Catalonia, which has experimented with cluster policies for 30 years and documented in an HBS case by Christian Ketels.
Thus, this year's programme combines three days of in-class sessions at IESE and two days of field visits to learn good and bad lessons from the Catalonia experience. It also includes the possibility of presenting your applied analysis from an actual case in your country a few months later.
The programme's pedagogical format is based on the active involvement of all participants, whether during the case-method session, lectures, or field visits. Some previous reading will be required before class, but short videos and slides will also introduce the cases for discussion. All in-class days will conclude with a hands-on workshop that will apply the tools to various case studies, from which the participants can choose based on their preferences of the sector (EVs, Agriculture, Tourism…) or country environment (Asia, Europe, MENA…)
The participants can also apply the tools to actual cases in their countries and share their findings or questions with the rest of the participants under the coaching of the faculty. For that purpose, the programme will be reconvened online on September 24 morning (CET) for participants from the Middle East and Asia and on September 25 afternoon (CET) from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The presentations and documents should be shared with all participants for educational purposes.
Please see the links below for further details on the Course Curriculum, Daily Agenda, Faculty, and Practical Information.
If you need a supporting letter for a visa to enter the EU, please register immediately without including the payment. We will provide it promptly. You will pay once you have your visa.
For any further assistance or questions, contact us at info@clustercompetitiveness.com
