The Competitiveness School 2018 successfully finalized its summer edition

From the 4th to the 8th of June, the 2018 Competitiveness Summer School took place in Barcelona. Organized by the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence and hosted by IESE Business School, this year's edition focused on a series of topics related to the growth of regions, cluster-based economic development, competitiveness and how to design compelling economic policies.

Classes and debates paced a rich and busy week with contribution from the Foundation’s faculty and from IESE Business School's professors.

Enjoying the top facilities at IESE Business School

On Thursday morning the training participants enjoyed a day out on the field with a case study on Barcelona Nautical Cluster focusing on high value nautical tourism. Insights on the business case were followed by a visit to some of the cluster's key players:

• MB92, a world’s leading company serving the finest super-yachts.
• The Royal Nautical Club of Barcelona, bringing a long history of maritime tradition to its most modern expressions.

This year again, the Competitiveness School proved to be a must-attend event for policy makers and senior economic development practitioners in search of high-caliber exchanges and new perspectives about regional competitiveness.

Competitiveness programme in Kazakhstan concludes on a high note

Nazarbayev University School of Public Administration in Astana was once again host to the final training week of the SME Competitiveness programme in Kazakhstan.

Funded by the Ministry of National Economy (MNE) of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the 12-month training aimed at capacity building in cluster management within Kazakhstan Industrial Development Institute (KIDI) and its delivery partners.

The training programme was based on management training curriculum of European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI). It was delivered jointly by the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence and the Cluster Competitiveness Group Inc.

As a conclusion to the programme, on Saturday 19th May stakeholders from a number of government departments and ministries participated in an interactive briefing session on Cluster-based economy development.

Stakeholders from ministries and government together exchanging about Cluster-based economy development on May the 19th

5th week of the SME Competitiveness & Cluster Reinforcement Programme is underway

This week in Kostanay the Foundation team covered different approaches to cluster organisations management and cluster project management.  The programme addressed the very essential topics of building cluster development expertise and raising capacity within KIDI - Kazakhstan Industrial Development Institute - personnel.

Through highly nourished debates, training participants were given to reflect with their instructors on real cases and unique challenges they may have to face on the job. This week's professors were: Reza Zadeh and Ines Sagrario from the Foundation, Werner Pamminger from Business Upper Austria, and Maria-Luisa Blazquez from IESE Business School.  

Instructor Ines Sagrario delivering a business case to the class.

Class of participants from KIDI with the Foundation academic team.