9 Catalan clusters have raised more than half a million euros from the European Commission to promote internationalization projects

Submitted by Serena Rebollo… on 09 November 2020

  • Catalan entities have achieved 6.5% of the total of the Clusters Go International line of the European Commission, which has a budget of 8.6 million euros
  • The clusters have had the support of ACCIÓ to access these grants, which will be used to promote the internationalization of the SMEs that comprise them
  • The beneficiary clusters -which competed with entities from all over Europe- are Solartys, CENFIM, secpho, the Catalan Water Partnership, MODACC, the Clúster Digital de Catalunya, the Beauty Cluster, the Packaging Cluster and CICAT

9 Catalan clusters have raised 560,000 euros from the European Commission (EC) to promote internationalization projects for the SMEs that comprise them. This is 6.5% of the total grants from the EC Clusters Go International call within the framework of the COSME program, which in total has a budget of 8.6 million euros and the participation of 78 clusters from 20 countries.

In this way, the financing ratio obtained by Catalan clusters (6.5%) is much higher than the weight of the population of Catalonia in the European Union (1.5%). In order to access these competitive grants, the Catalan clusters have had the support of ACCIÓthe agency for the competitiveness of the company of the Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement. All the clusters that have submitted to the call have obtained funding.

The grants will allow the clusters to carry out 2-year projects to develop a joint internationalization strategy for the SMEs that are part of these organizations or the implementation of this strategy through market studies, international prospective missions or B2B meetings with other companies around the world. The projects of the Catalan clusters are the following:

  • CENFIM (Cluster of home and contract equipment) and Catalan Water Partnership: CENFIM leads the Welliance project -which also has the participation of the Catalan Water Partnership and clusters of Belgium, Germany and France- to facilitate European SMEs in the sectors of the construction and equipping of hotel establishments the information and contacts to expand in the markets of the United States, Mexico and South Africa.
  • MODACC and Clúster Digital de Catalunya: with the name Fascinate, MODACC leads this European project that aims to promote the internationalization of companies in the textile and fashion industry by incorporating elements linked to circularity and sustainability and through digital technologies. The initiative also involves the Digital Cluster of Catalonia and organizations from Denmark, Bulgaria and Portugal.
  • Solartys and Catalan Water Partnership: participate in the Green & Small Smart Cities project that also has clusters from Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic to support the internationalization strategy of European SMEs of these organizations with sustainable technological solutions in areas such as energy infrastructures, renewable energy solutions, rational use of resources, lack of connectivity or water treatment, among others.
  • Beauty Cluster: the Global Cosmetics Cluster Europe project will encourage SMEs in the cosmetics and perfumery fields to go abroad through the organization of business missions, market research, trends and training for companies.
  • secpho and Packaging Cluster: these two Catalan organizations are part of the European FoodpackLab 2 initiative that seeks to promote cooperation between SMEs from different European countries to collaborate in the development of innovative solutions and export them to India and South Africa with the aim of reducing food waste.
  • CICAT: the Catalan cluster CICAT, in the field of light technology, participates in the ELCA4i project with the ELCA European Lighting Cluster Alliance and the lighting clusters of France and Italy to carry out common actions between European SMEs to promote internationalization in the United States and Canada, mainly.

The Catalan clusters, with the highest international certificate of excellence Precisely, five of these Catalan clusters (Packaging Cluster, MODACC, Catalan Water Partnership, Beauty Cluster and secpho) have received this 2020 the Gold Label certificate from the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA). It is one of the most prestigious awards in the world in the field of clusters that certifies excellence in the management of these organizations -which was already obtained by the Catalan FEMAC cluster in 2012-. In this way, now, 10% of the clusters throughout Europe with the Gold Label certificate are Catalan.

To receive this accreditation, 30 indicators of the clusters related to financing, governance, strategy, composition (that the organization has a multinational presence, SMEs, startups, universities or technology centers) or the qualification of the team that manages it are analyzed. . The fact of having this certificate allows the clusters to increase their international visibility and positioning, as well as access to new meeting points with other leading European clusters to carry out joint projects and improvement processes.

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