ECCP Matchmaking Events Feedback

The matchmaking events are a backbone of the ECCP and it is important to see how participants experience them, what are the outcomes of the numerous meetings to explore cooperation opportunities. We present below a few impressions shared by cluster participants.

NF4 Canada

Anne-Céline Renaud, international partnership manager at Vitagora, presents the New Frontiers in Food project during the EU-Canada Cluster Matchmaking Event in June 2019.

Heidrun Hochreiter

"Thanks to the EU and ECCP for organising matchmaking events and bring companies R&D clusters all around the world together. Let's boost innovation together!" Heidrun Hochreiter, Food Cluster Business Upper Austria

Ziga Valic

"Participation in the EU-Canada cluster delegation has enabled OPTITEC to get a better insight into the Canadian cluster ecosystem and to establish valuable contacts for a fruitful collaboration with Canadian peers. Big thanks to the DG Growth and EASME for their support and to the ECCP team for a flawless organisation.3 days packed with visits and meetings provided us with an insight into dynamic start-up and SME ecosystem, with a focus on the functioning of the first 5 Canadian superclusters. A highlight of the trip was the signing of an administrative arrangement between Canada and the EU...

Goran Mladenovic - canada

"Big thank you. A very useful event, very well organised. Congratulations to the whole team!! Create funds specially designed to enforce cooperation between Canada and the EU - this is very important for change that we want to create and sustain" Goran Mladenovic, Ni CAT cluster-Nis Cluster of Advanced Technologies

Maroua Nouira, Communication Officer at Novation City The Competitiveness Pole of Sousse (Cluster Mechatronic Tunisie)

I had the pleasure of participating in the first #TechDays, a EU-South MED Cluster matchmaking event that took place in Casablanca, Morocco. It has been a great experience attending the three-day Techdays event on behalf of The Cluster of Mechatronics Tunisia, where I met many experienced, intelligent and sharp international cluster managers and field experts. I think this event was very well organized and very successful. I fully enjoyed engaging in constructive group discussion sessions and learning about the clusters. A very informative workshop session was delivered by Mr Alain Tubiana -...

Goran Mladenovic

"An amazing event. I made contacts with very relevant people and we have already taken next steps in cooperation and establishment of genuine partnership between Canada and our region. I would particularly like to emphasize the organizer's readiness to add value to each activity and to encourage further connecting." Goran Mladenovic, Cluster Manager of the NiCAT Cluster (Serbia)

Lubos Komarek

Lubos Komarek, Cluster Manager of the Nanoprogress cluster (Czech Republic) shares his impressions right after the EU-Canada high level cluster cooperation event in the context of the Hanover Fair on 1-2 April 2019 that was the main anchor event of the EU Cluster Weeks initiative.

Merete Norby

Merete Nørby, International Senior Consultant, Ph.D. at MADE – Manufacturing Academy of Denmark cluster ECCP: How did you experience the EU-CAN cluster cooperation event? M.N: This was the first time for me to participate in a EU cluster matchmaking event. I was very glad to be offered the opportunity to participate. The fact that you have to apply and forward information about you cluster and motivation for participating is a very good idea and helps to assure that the event is taken seriously. I liked the intro with short and personal presentations setting the scene. It was good that you had...

Jason Myers

"The EU-Canada Cluster Cooperation Event at Hannover Messe was a great success from my perspective. It gave me, as leader of Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, a good opportunity to meet other cluster leaders who are interested in partnering with Canadian companies and cluster initiatives. I made many friends over the two days of the event and learned much about the common challenges we all face and a great deal about best practices in encouraging collaboration on the part of companies, and especially the engagement of SMEs, in cluster initiatives. I’m struck by how much we share in...

Irene Sterian

"This was the first time I have attended a EU Cluster event, as part of the EU -Canada initiative, on behalf of ReMAP cluster. ReMAP - Refined Manufacturing Acceleration Process is focused on advanced manufacturing and bringing electronic and optical products to market. I found this event very productive. We face similar challenges, and we can work together to be more relevant to the global economy. There were formal opportunities to connect with similar clusters in the EU and there were informal opportunities to create relationships and potential future partnerships. I am looking forward to...

Thomas Colombeau

“The EU-Korea Matchmaking Event was interesting. I had the opportunity to participate to the EU-Korea matchmaking event in Vienna. The event was perfectly organized, from the matchmaking sessions thanks to B2match... to the site visit with an interesting overview of an Energy competence centre. I expect at least 25% of my exchanges to turn into future cluster collaborations” Thomas Colombeau, ALPHA-Route des Lasers & des Hyperfréquences

EU Cluster Mission to the USA - Follow up

After attending the “EU Cluster Mission to the USA”, the Maritime Technology Cluster FVG S.c.ar.l. had the possibility to keep the contacts with American clusters and enhance the collaboration among two territories. Both in Autumn and in March the cluster representatives met The Maritime Alliance cluster in Venice and London and discussed about tools and means to link the two territories and respective enterprises. Forthcoming, in March in Rome, a dedicated networking event was organized among Italian and American enterprises and other research centers and aggregation players. The Maritime...

Kristo Kinga - General Feedback

“As a newly established cluster, first step is too be visible. Through ECCP we had the opportunity to participate at several matchmaking events. We already met almost 1000 people who represent or have relation with clusters. In the past 3 years we invested a lot of our resources in order to have success in the future. It pays off!” Kinga Kristó, Cluster Manager of Transylvanian Mechanical Engineering Cluster

Eu - Taiwan Caminiti

“The cluster matchmaking event in the context of the 3rd EU-Taiwan Industry dialogue was my first experience in such an event, and it was my first time with Taiwanese clusters. It was a great opportunity to know better about the Taiwanese industrial environment. A very important thing was to have the opportunity to meet the Taiwanese research centers to collaborate on R&D projects, also through the tools available to the European Commission. Our next goal, as a cluster, is to organize a mission in Taiwan with our companies and the contacts created through this event will make it easier!”...

Eu - Taiwan De Sutter

“For SYSTEMATIC Paris Region, the Eu-Taiwan B2B and matchmaking event organised in Brussels helped us to establish contacts with Taiwanese business associations and research clusters from various sectors (5G, Manufacturing (smart industry). During the conferences we gained insights on experience of Industry 4.0 in Taiwan and also several European countries (Such as Germany). Smart industry thematic is important for our members and our Region (topic from the Paris Region S3) As a follow up, we have had the visit of a Taiwanese delegation in our facilities in Paris-Saclay (Site of Nano Innov)...

EU - Taiwan Mr Perkov

“The EU – Taiwan Cluster Matchmaking Event was very interesting. It was the first time that Cluster Inteligentna Energija met with Taiwanese organizations and therefore, it was a good opportunity to learn about their business culture as well as know more about their vision regarding Croatia. In fact, I believe I found some potential collaborations in the power industry and waste management. In addition, the seminars were very useful since they provided insightful information about renewable energy sources. We gained more understanding about what the world is doing and found some interesting...

Thessaloniki: Bianca Muntean

“ECCP matchmaking mission in Thessaloniki, as long as all the other events organised by the ECCP was a very applied and concrete event and it offered the perfect environment for making new contacts, best practices sharing and links for future projects. It was a great experience, a lot of innovative ideas and good vibes from Clusters all over Balkan&Med area and Western Europe” Bianca Muntean, iTech Transilvania Cluster Manager

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“The High-level EU Cluster Mission to the US was a great opportunity to understand how the innovation ecosystem works there. We had an opportunity to exchange experiences with different kind of entities, from business support institutions, through R&D institutions, up to the VC ecosystem. It was a fruitful set of C2C matchmaking meetings and direct visits at local institutions. We came back with promising contacts and knowledge about the wide range of services offered by the US organisations what let us develop further cooperation. As an ICT cluster we are very satisfied that we confirmed...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“Thanks to everyone involved in the EU-US Bilateral Cluster Mission. I can’t speak highly enough of what a fantastic opportunity it was for Cambridge Cleantech as a technology cluster. I met over 70 potential collaborators and since returning have already followed up with 3 potential partner organisations with concrete next step actions, (two meetings scheduled in London and an outline for a US-EU Summit on Smart Grid Technology). Participating on the mission with over 20 other EU technology clusters was also extremely valuable and has exponentially grown our international network with other...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

« The European mission was a very fruitful event for us. From one part, the program explorating the US East Coast provided us a good picture of the innovation and economical practices, which is very different compared to the well-known Silicon Valley. We met very open-mindset counterparts, with a real willingness to build collaborative projects with European entities. Also, we discovered different organizations involved in the local economy: Ben Franklin organisation helping the companies to set up in Pennsylvania, Navy Yard organizing economic and social life, Fraunhofer centers innovating in...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“During the High-Level US-Cluster-Missions, I gathered lots of useful information and even more contacts for our cluster and the members, respectively. The learnings for our cluster regarding the remarkable entrepreneurial and seed-capital as well as VC ecosystem in Philadelphia (PE) and Boston/Cambridge (MA) will help our members, once they start their business in these regions. For R&D opportunities the Singh Center for Nanotechnology in Philadelphia was a very promising visit to connect with some of our research institutes. The meetings with MassTLC and MassCEC in Boston showed outstanding...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“It was a very interesting, useful visit for our cluster from the point of view of companies as well as research institutions. We could collect a lot of good examples of bridging industry and academia, rules of conducting research projects for companies, we could get familiar with and understand the American approach to interactions between science and industry, even if it is not called “cluster interactions”. The lesson learned will be taken to Poland in order to implement the American model of thinking: Technology and demonstration + Training and education. We plan to find the complementary...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“The US cluster mission including the matchmaking event during the TechConnect Conference has been very fruitful by giving the opportunity to better understand the way American clusters are acting and developing their innovation eco-systems. This enabled to get leading edge practices in the combination of technology and business oriented communities for the benefit of start-ups and innovative companies. For our particular interest, we have been able to build up promising connections with cluster or economic development organizations in Pennsylvania such as Ben Franklin Technology Partners, or...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“biosaxony is the association of life sciences industries in the Free State of Saxony (Germany). Our focus areas are biotechnology, medical devices and health. With over 110 members we are active in site marketing, technology transfer and business development. The cluster mission to the U.S. was a great opportunity for biosaxony to start collaboration with US clusters and business development agencies. The support services for soft landing and technology transfer of Ben Franklin Technology Partners in Philadelphia and the Cambridge Innovation Centre in Boston were particular interesting for us...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“The mission was helpful to understand how the innovation and acceleration services work in the USA. We got to meet different kind of entities and organisations that can be approached when searching for partners to support companies in their internationalisation processes, whether it is to open an office, analyse the market, develop joint projects or search for potential investors. The visits held in both Philadelphia (PA) and Boston (MA) gave us clusters a good perspective on the interest and goals of the US’ organisations we met and allowed us to start a dialogue that can lead to...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“EU Cluster Mission to USA has been significantly important to further Lublin Medicine - Medical and Wellness Cluster development. During five days, thanks to good organization of the mission we had an opportunity to meet a number of key market and research players. We have gained the knowledge about the US system supporting economic and scientific development. We could also discuss the business model of our potential partners. Matchmaking meetings in Washington allowed us to introduce our cluster directly to US and European organizations. The scope of potential cooperation has been defined...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“The mission has represented a great opportunity to getting aware about innovation and technology development framework in the USA, providing information on several actors with different competences and roles. Since our cluster is involved in the maritime technologies sector, during the matchmaking event we had the possibility to meet three American cluster focused on different maritime and marine topics. The before mentioned meetings helped us understand what they do and gave us the possibility to get more details on maritime topics that we could develop in the future.” Carlo Kraskovic...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“The matchmaking event in Washington, DC, was efficient for me, as I could discuss some opportunities of collaboration for our cluster and our members. As for the visits, I would be interested to learn more about the access opportunities and mechanisms for European companies to the Manufacturing America program that was presented to us. When visiting the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA, I realized that a number of our cluster’s member companies have already used the incubation and consulting services which were a great information mechanism for them and allowed them to enter the...

Testimonial on the EU cluster mission to the USA

“My cluster is active in the fields of Biomedicine, Biotechnology, e-Health and Ambient Assisted Living, so the cluster visits in Philadelphia, PA, which is a hub for life sciences, were of particular interest to me. It was very useful to understand the research and innovation landscape in the USA thanks to the presentations, meetings and visits, as it differs from the system we know from Europe. I am glad I can bring specific information home to my cluster’s member companies: indeed, I could already schedule a concrete appointment for one company that is visiting Boston next week with the...

Testimonial on the EU-US Matchmaking Event at Hannover Messe (April 2016) organized by ECCP

New: Watch the video of the EU-US cluster matchmaking event at Hannover Messe 2016 with testimonials from participating clusters

Testimonial on the EU-US Matchmaking Event at Hannover Messe (April 2016) organized by ECCP

Andrea Golfieri, EASME; Christophe Guichard, DG Growth European Commission; Marc Pattinson, inno TSD, ECCP coordinator; Bryan Borlik, US Department of Commerce; Tshanda Kalombo, US Department of Commerce; Eva Fadil, inno TSD, ECCP project manager “The opportunity to meet with European clusters at the Hannover Messe generated huge interest from U.S. clusters and economic development organisations. Many of them told me that they really benefited from exchanging information and learning about European clusters in advanced manufacturing. The matchmaking event was well-organised which allowed the...

Testimonial on the EU-US Matchmaking Event at Hannover Messe (April 2016) organized by ECCP

“This EU-US matchmaking event gave us, as cluster and also as one partner of an ESCP-4i, the chance to get in contact and to develop collaborations with other participating clusters and their business members from Europe and the USA. During these 2 days I had in total 16 very interesting and informative meetings and I am sure we will cooperate together with some of the European and also with the US clusters. For us, as a plasma technology cluster, the mixture of clusters from different fields like industrial automation, IT, water, energy and environmental technology, industrial supply...

Testimonial on the EU-US Matchmaking Event at Hannover Messe (April 2016) organized by ECCP

“The cluster matchmaking is very useful for us – we vote for such events!” Smilja Krajinovic, VOJVODINA ICT CLUSTER, Serbia

Testimonial on the Taiwan 2016 Cluster Matchmaking Event, supported by ECCP

“The Cluster Matchmaking Event organised in the context of the European Innovation Week in Taiwan (May 30th – June 1st 2016) allowed GAIA to establish contacts with other clusters and business associations in the ICT and electronic sector. At the same time, we could gain insight into the trends of Industry 4.0 in Taiwan and also in European countries such as Germany and France. Furthermore, GAIA had the chance to present its projects and activities in the Basque Country, especially those being implemented in the scope of Industry 4.0 and Smart Cities.” Cristina Murillo, Cluster Services...

Testimonial on the Taiwan 2016 Cluster Matchmaking Event, supported by ECCP

“The seminars presented at the European Innovation Week explored a wide range of very interesting topics, focusing and capturing at any time the attention of the audience. The material provided during the event was useful to better follow the topics, as well as a starting point to be able to individually develop certain opportunities. On top of all, this event has been a great opportunity to meet clusters and business persons and local companies. The event gave to all of us, I believe, a quite deep insight in the local economy, paving the way for future developments and contacts. The company...

Testimonial on the Taiwan 2016 Cluster Matchmaking Event, supported by ECCP

“We, the Bulgaria ICT Cluster, were part of the EU ICT Clusters Delegation to Taiwan at the European Innovation Week within Computex in Taipei. As part of this week, we had great one-on-one meetings and networking events, giving us the tremendous opportunity to initiate business cooperation with Taiwan. With the exceptional organization of the event, we very effectively met numerous Taiwanese companies and associations, as well as EU clusters with which we can intensify or initiate collaboration as organizations, but also for our member companies. We believe these type of activities are...