Associação Pool-Net - Portuguese Tooling & Plastics Network

 Engineering & Tooling from Portugal: The Cluster Brand

The cluster was formally recognized by the Portuguese government in 2009 and is legally represented by POOL-NET – the Portuguese Tooling Network Association. The aim of the cluster is to contribute to the sustainability of the Portuguese industry, supporting product development in strategic areas (such as aerospace, automotive, medical devices, packaging, electronics, energy and the environment) and to promote the Portuguese Engineering & Tooling cluster internationally, under the ’umbrella’ of the collective brand ‘Engineering & Tooling from Portugal’. With this brand name POOL-NET has the responsibility to promote the cluster range of skills and services available to customers from all over the world (i.e., trade missions, fairs, magazines, etc).

The development of this initiative of creating and promoting a collective brand to the cluster, has been developed with the support of the projects of the cluster GESTOOLING, GESTOOLING 2014, BtM – Branding to Market, and BtM 2015 – Branding to Market 2015, being the most import activities done during the last 24 months.  The complexity of this process and the need to gather the cluster in this process shows the importance of the work that has been done by POOL-NET, to show the value of the brand (at the present moment, 30 companies members and 2 Institutions are considered official members, authorized to use the collective brand, and many others are promoting the adjustments they need to enlarge this group).

Considering that the creation of a Collective Brad is the highest level of the Industrial cooperation, because companies are establishing the roots to cooperate and compete, it has been given to POOL-NET the role to register the brand internationally, discuss the main rule for use, approve the users in compliancy with the main rules approved, and to promote the brand (inside of the cluster – workshops, visits to companies and meeting), but also and especially at the international level (magazines in strategic markets – Spain, Germany, France, USA, Poland, Brazil, UK, Russia and Mexico). 

The companies that make up the “Engineering & Tooling from Portugal” brand offer a full range of services comprising the entire value chain up to actual production, and, in some cases, including production. These companies have long understood that technological excellence and innovative business strategies and approaches to the market are essential to remain at the top of the industry. This has led to the development of an array of available technologies, and Portugal’s Engineering & Tooling companies have gained international recognition for their skill in interpreting their customers’ requirements, building a reputation as versatile, technologically advanced and offering an excellent price/quality ratio.

Our cluster integrates a full set of solution providers streamlining innovation, helping customers to find solutions, building reliability, precision & efficiency, highlighting trust & commitment which are assumed by companies as core values of the brand.

WIINTECH PROJECT: Cooperation beyond Europe

WinnTech (2012-2014) has been a Pilot-European Project (most of the activities had been developed during the last 24 months) involving complementary clusters from different European Countries (Portugal – POOL-NET; Spain – PLASTIVAL;  France – PLASTIPOLIS; Italy – NANOTECH and PROPLAST; Germany – Chemie Cluster Bayern; Austria – CLUSTERLAND; and England - NEPIC), fostering new opportunities on “CLEAN TECH MARKETS”, in Countries outside of Europe (India, Japan, USA, and Brazil).

These 8 European Clusters from 7 Countries represented more then 2.000 companies, 300 Research Centers & Universities, worked together in a “Worldwide Intercluster Initiative for New Materials and Processes focused on Clean Technologies”. In fact, complementary skills, contacts and competences, allow to organise common visits to different and strategic markets, to promote the clusters individually, organizing B2B meetings (more then 1.000 meetting with local companies), detecting opportunities, to learn the challenges of these markets, to establish the basis for future cooperation (signing several Memorandum of Understanding with clusters from Brazil, USA, Japan and India).

The main importance of this Pilot project, was not only the reinforcement of cooperation between these European countries, but also, the new contacts developed to opening future collaborations and business, for the members of the clusters involved on this initiative.

As results of this project, we enlarged our international network, new project proposals between clusters are increasing, the cooperation and exchange interclusters information are rising, and new business opportunities are coming up.

POOL-NET performed an active international action during this project, representing the cluster, creating a sustainable relationship not only with the visited markets but also with the European Clusters involved, opening new cooperation and business opportunities to the Engineering & Tooling members. POOL-NET created the ground to established protocols for cooperation (with PLASTIPOLIS, PROPLAST, CLUSTERLAND and PLASTIVAL) that will be sign during the next MOULDSEVENT 2014 (23rd – 27th June) in Portugal. POOL-NET, created the opportunity to receive the representative from MISSISSIPI district (USA) during the MOULDSEVENT 2014, to discuss future cooperation, involving action with the OPEN Incubator Center and their Accelerator, and also to discuss the procedures to make “twins” the cities of Marinha Grande and Hattiesburg (Mississippi).