Success stories

Hear success stories from members across the ECCP community and how they benefitted from using our service.

2016: ONE MORE YEAR FOR THE TEXTILE COOPERATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND JAPAN WITH TECHTERA

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 13 January 2017.

TECHTERA is the French innovation cluster for textiles and flexible materials of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, French leader of the sector. Since its creation in 2005, the cluster fosters cooperation between France and Japan in textiles. 2016 was no exception. As part of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2014 by the French and Japanese ministries of economy, the Japan Chemical Fibers...

Interview with Pieter de Jong, on behalf of the 2016 EU Cluster Partnership Award Winner “Energy in Water (EnW)”

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 12 December 2016.

The European Cluster Collaboration Platform together with EASME and DG Growth of the European Commission launched the “EU Cluster Partnership Award 2016”rewarding ESCP-4i Projects’ Communication Activities”. The EU Cluster Partnership Award provides an opportunity for ’ESCP-4i projects’ to showcase their excellence in promoting their partnership activities through various channels, including the...

The gift of imperfection or how AVAESEN reinvented the cluster concept

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 23 November 2016.

The financial crisis has left its mark Spain. Due to budget constraints of the Valencian Region, regional public funding of cluster organizations terminated in 2012. As a result, many clusters have drastically reduced its staff or dissolved completely. In addition, the Spanish Government slashed subsidies for renewable energy projects, even to energy parks (wind and solar) which were already...

LEADING EUROPEAN & ASIA-PACIFIC SPORTS TECH CLUSTERS PARTNER TO STRENGTHEN INNOVATION AND MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 13 November 2016.

Two of the world’s leading sports technology clusters – the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) and Dutch-based cluster Sports & Technology (S&T) – have today announced a partnership to strengthen connections into their reciprocal Asia-Pacific and European markets. Leveraging off the back of outstanding sporting reputations, sports participation and culture, S&T and ASTN have been...

My year as chairman of Silicon Europe Alliance

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 13 November 2016.

5 years ago, at the occasion of Semicon Europe in Dresden, we had a first gathering of a group of leading European semiconductor clusters. A new baby was born. Less than a year later, this cooperation was formalised in the European project “Silicon Europe”, aiming at creating a common vision and strategy to strengthen the European semiconductor industry, based on an inter-cluster cooperation model...

Silicon Europe Worldwide signs MOU for cooperation with TAITRA from Taiwan

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 11 November 2016.

October 25th, 2016 The “Silicon Europe Worldwide” project aims at implementing the internationalisation strategy of the Silicon Europe Alliance, part the part of the internationalisation beyond Europe. In this internationalisation strategy, Taiwan and the US had been identified as the primary targets for setting up cluster-to-cluster cooperation, at the benefit of the cluster members. As part of...

The HealthTech Cluster in Catalonia signs a collaboration agreement with MassMEDIC in Boston

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 09 November 2016.

The agreement was signed during the 2nd Strategic Meeting of the HT Cluster that was held in Barcelona last 20 and 21 of October The HealthTech Cluster belongs to the Catalonia Cluster Program launched by the agency ACCIO of the Government of Catalonia, which includes 30 other Catalan clusters. The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) the second biggest medical devices cluster...

ECCP congratulates the Danish CLEAN Cluster – the 2016 winner of the RegioStars Award (Smart Growth category)​ !

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 12 October 2016.

On 11 October 2016, the European Commission's yearly RegioStars Awards ceremony took place in Brussels, as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities. This yearly EU-wide competition puts the spotlight on the most innovative and inspiring EU funded projects and illustrates, through concrete real-life examples, how Cohesion Policy supports the creation of economic growth and jobs. In addition...

Cluster Mentality (reflections from 2 years as EU Cluster Manger of the Year 2014)

Submitted by Lucia Seel on 04 October 2016.

Dr Stan Higgins EU Cluster Manager of the Year 2014 reflects on his findings while meeting clusters from around the world during the last 2 years: Many have concluded, and I quote, that “Clusters are the key organizational unit for understanding and improving the performance of regional economies. The foundation of a regional economy is a group of clusters, not a collection of unrelated firms.”...

International Mission of Catalonia Cluster Managers, Korea 2016

Submitted by Camille DURAN on 07 June 2016.

Catalonia was a pioneer country in terms of cluster policy, starting at 1992. Since then, there’s been a continuous cluster policy for more than 2 decades. One of the main takeaways of this long cluster experience is that cluster managers are a key success factor in a cluster initiative. It’s not only about their background and skills, but also about dedication and motivation. A decade has passed...