Building strong clusters in structurally weak regions
This Discussion Paper was submitted to the European Expert Group on Clusters as an input for their discussions. The European Expert Group on Clusters provides the Commission, EU countries and regions with recommendations, advice, and expertise, specifically on how to better use clusters as a strategic tool of industrial policy, interregional collaboration and to integrate SMEs into EU and global value chains. The members of the group are the EU countries and individual experts appointed in a personal capacity (selected via a call for applications). The aim of this input paper is to provide the basis for discussion among the European Cluster Expert Group around what is needed to build strong clusters in regions that suffer certain structural weaknesses.