CDCM Consortium Conference

The first Cluster Excellence Management trainers from Turkey, Iceland and Poland got certified

The Capacity Development for Cluster Managers (CDCM) consortium completes the training period conducted by the EFCE and presents its own implementation plan, based on the knowledge acquired during the Train-the-Trainers programme.

On the occasion of the Cluster Excellence Conference “Cluster 2.0”, more than 250 participants, consisting of practitioners, policy makers and representatives of private sector from all around Turkey, met last 28th of November in Izmir (Turkey) to discuss clusters and competitiveness.

The conference was organized by the Capacity Development for Cluster Managers (CDMC), one of the four consortiums supported by the European Commission through a Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) Call. The consortium is formed by the Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS), the Rzeszow Regional Development Agency (PARR) and the Aegean Exporters' Associations, who serves as coordinator.

In addition to focusing on consolidating and developing strategies for success in the field of economic clusters, this event also served to celebrated the completion by the project partners of the 6-month long Train-the-Trainers programme delivered by the Foundation. They were awarded the Associate Trainer certification, which now enables them to run the Cluster Excellence Management training programmes offered by EFCE.

The conference culminated with the announcement of the upcoming start of the first Turkish Cluster Excellence Management training. The piece of news attracted widespread interest among participants, especially from the Regional Development Agencies present on that day.

The conference featured the interventions of high level speakers:

• Mr. Bartlomiej Bodio, member of the Polish Parliament and Chairman of the Polish Parliamentary Group for Cluster Policy.
• Mr. Yavuz Ozutku, Deputy General Manager in charge of the Cluster Policy for the Turkish Ministry of Economy.
• Mr. Ekin Taksin, project coordinator of the CDMC Consortium.
• Mr. Reza Zadeh, Executive Director at EFCE.

ATC4 Excellence Conference finalizes the CIP CALL program

On the 21th and 22nd of November, Santiago de Compostela hosted the closing session of the CIP CALL program for the ATC4 Excellence consortium. A round-table and keynote lectures marked this special day.

ATC4 Excellence is one of the four consortiums from across Europe that participated in the CIP CALL training program, directed and coordinated by the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence. The ATC4 Excellence consortium is composed by members from institutions of economic development from Ireland, northern Portugal and the Spanish regions of Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias.

During the two days, leaders of the participating organizations, as well as political and business officials, shared their knowledge and experiences related to their participation in the project.

Among the conferences held, the round-table entitled “Achieving the excellence in clusters” proved to bring food for thought to the audience. Its protagonists were Gloria Ferrer, from the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence, Florian Plocek, from the Cluster Collaboration Platform (CCP) and Helmut Kergel, from the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA).

Another highlight came with the lecture of keynote speaker Antoni Subirà, President of EFCE, and with the case studies presented by former participants in the Foundation's Train-the-Trainers training programme:

• Claire Davis (SWRA) presented her project on Wedding tourism in Ireland.
• Monika Marr (SODERCAN), Clara García and Jaime Fernández (IDEPA) presented their project on Gourmet food in Cantabria and Asturias.
• Manuel Fernández (IGAPE) presented his project in Textile in northern Portugal and Galicia.

This conference concluded the participation of ATC4 Excellence in the CIP CALL program with an excellent rating from the organization.

Launch of a MSc in Cluster Management

The Foundation supports the launch of the master's Degree in Cluster Management

On the 14th of November 2013, Reza Zadeh, Executive Director at EFCE, attended the inauguration of the new, EU funded, cross-border French-German Master's Programme in Cluster Management. On that occasion Mr. Zadeh delivered a keynote speech on the most recent European Cluster Policies.

In order to meet the increasing demand for professionals who possess the skills and knowledge needed for competent management of clusters and networks, the Kehl University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and the University of Strasbourg (France) have implemented a joint-program in Cluster Management and Regional Networks. A pioneer and a European reference in the field, the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence naturally accepted to share its insights with the attendees and to give them a taste of its extensive experience in cluster-related competitiveness.

In this new master's programme students are taught modern communication techniques and intercultural management. It focuses on topics in business and competitive intelligence, project, personnel and innovation management, marketing, public relations and European administrative cultures. On successful completion of four semesters in Kehl and Strasbourg, students receive a French-German Master of Science (MSc) degree.

Discussions on future collaboration between the partner institutions in the master's programme and the Foundation are ongoing.