“Taiwan-EU Cluster Cooperation: Successful Stories Sharing Seminar” was held on November 15 inTaipei, Taiwan. It was organized by Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI). There were around 25 participants including 12 Taiwanese clusters representatives. CNFI has invited Mr. Kuang-Han Ke from Gran Systems and Mr. Eric Tai from TaiwanBeautyValley to share their stories with European clusters.

Gran Systems (GS) is a system integrator, design, and consulting service company. GS serve in the precision machinery, semiconductor equipment, solar, aerospace, and medical equipment industries. GS is in cooperation with CASTRA, a Bulgaria cluster, specialized in aerospace technology. Both organizations first met during the 2016 “European Innovation Week” in Taiwan. Since then, they have organized visits each other and now is in cooperation to share knowledge and to identify and implement joint projects related to aerospace.

The other successful story is Taiwan Beauty Valley (TBV) to make cooperation with Cosmetic ValleyFrance, the largest cosmetic cluster in the world. Both clusters are members of ECCP. TBV was developed in 2016. During their inaugural meeting on May 16, 2016, they signed a MOU with Cosmetic ValleyFrance. In October of the same year, TBV organized a delegation to France for participating Cosmetic 360 Exhibition. In the Exhibition, both organizations also formed a Cosmetics Clusters International Network (CCIN) with other clusters from 17 countries. In CCIN, they agree to hold a World Innovation & Cosmetics Clusters Summit (WICCS) every year during Cosmetic 360 Exhibition to share up-to-date information and creative technology.

Both stories are very instructive and encouraging. They are helpful for Taiwanese clusters to make future cooperation with European clusters.