Creating impact beyond the Towards Green Transition Facility

Submitted by Imogen Allan on 15 November 2021

TheTowards Green Transition’ Facility (TGTF), an initiative of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), has been supporting selected clusters through 25 projects with targeted business advice through a team of hand-picked advisors from around Europe.

On the 5 November 2021, the facility had its third and final cross-cutting webinar. As with previous webinars, the idea was to share best practices, exchange knowledge on the green transition and create a community of practitioners.

The webinar was attended by 49 members of the TGTF community. Participants were a mix of cluster managers and their respective TGTF mentors and experts.

Paulina Janiak, one of the TGTF experts, opened the webinar by providing recommendations for clusters on the topic of cluster financing for greening activities. She advocated for membership financing as the most desirable source of income for a cluster due to its stability and provided managers with strategies to redesign membership fees and services whilst attracting new partners.

Pouyan Maleki, TGTF Expert & Ecorys Sustainability Consultant, moderated an interactive session during which cluster managers shared their main successes during the TGTF followed by a discussion on the achievements of the facility.

Among the stories showcased was that of Cluster Energy Technology Berlin-Brandenburg, that has built a sustainability community, or that of the Renewable Energy Sources Cluster from Bulgaria, which has greatly benefitted from the expert’s ideas and ideas in improving its business strategy. Another success story included the Spanish cluster Clusaga, which was able to better identify its needs and priorities thanks to the expert’s support and build a roadmap for actions for the coming year.

Finally, to close the webinar, Bianca Dragomir, the CEO of the CleanTech Cluster and founder of Clusters for Change, moderated an interactive session. During this session, five clusters presented roadmaps on their green ambitions and actions beyond TGTF.

The clusters were INDESCAT, Clusaga, Cluster Energy Technology Berlin-Brandenburg, the Venetian Cluster and Balears.t. INDESCAT, for example, plans to identify funding opportunities and to significantly improve its members’ energy efficiency. From its part, the Galician food industry cluster Clusaga, has established a partnership with a sustainability consultancy and will perform an impact assessment to redesign its strategy. Meanwhile, the Venetian Cluster, aims to accompany five SMEs in their 2025 roadmaps towards sustainability.

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