European Innovation Platform for Clusters (Cluster-IP)

Clusters are important drivers for the competitiveness of European enterprises as they offer a favourable business environment that stimulates innovation and growth. With the increasing recognition of clusters as important drivers of economic and regional development, many cluster initiatives have been launched over the last decade. Although the full impact of these initiatives is yet to be seen, it seems that many of them lack critical mass and strategic orientation. Stronger trans-national cooperation is seen as a promising approach to raise the international profile of cluster initiatives and to complement strengths. The European Innovation Platform for Clusters (Cluster-IP) will facilitate such cooperation across borders, in particular with the view to better supporting innovative SMEs to internationalise their business and to engage easier into partnerships with other enterprises and research institutes outside their own territory.

Building upon the experience and linkages established by the previous generation of 11 cluster network projects implemented under the Europe INNOVA initiative in October 2005, the new Cluster -IP will follow a more targeted approach and move from the facilitation of networking to true partnerships, by promoting active cooperation between cluster organisations from different Member States and regions. Whereas the previous projects addressed 8 sectors, both traditional and high-tech, the new generation of projects under the Cluster-IP will contribute particularly to the further implementation of the Lead Market Initiative (LMI). The three new cluster partnerships will cover different market areas linked t o the Lead Market Initiative as well as biotechnology, notably in the fields of energy-efficiency, eco-innovation, and biotechnology. As a matter of principle, only the most promising proposal for a given sector will be retained for funding.

The Cluster-IP will practically implement a number of lessons learned from the European Cluster Alliance under PRO INNO Europe. The emphasis of the new cluster partnerships will therefore shift from the identification and dissemination of good practice to the systematic implementation and replication of new and better practical tools and instruments, which requires a bundled approach with stronger involvement of organisations with own budgets and organisational power. Therefore, well established cluster organisations are considered to become the main drivers of the new Cluster-IP, as they are expected to provide or channel efficient business support services for SMEs in view of their participation in clusters. Moreover, cluster organisations are well placed to support innovative SMEs in their efforts to internationalise and to find business partners outside their own region. Furthermore, it is the ambition of the Cluster-IP to ensure better coherence between different Community initiatives in support of clusters.

The European Cluster Observatory as launched in 2006 under Europe INNOVA will be integrated into the new Cluster-IP. In the first phase it provided a complete mapping of clusters located in 32 European countries and operating in 38 business sectors, based on a sound methodological approach and best available statistical data. Furthermore, it offered valuable information on existing cluster policies, programmes and cluster initiatives in Europe and the results of case studies. The European Cluster Observatory has become a strategic tool for devising effective cluster policies and to measure the economic impact of clusters in Europe.

To better identify the most promising “innovation hotspots” in Europe and to better assess the economic impact of cluster initiatives, more and better statistical information about clusters in Europe is needed. In order to enable policy -makers to design evidence based cluster strategies it is necessary to provide further cluster mapping based also on qualitative data. This can create an even more powerful tool to identify the “geography of strengths” in different manufacturing and service sectors. There is also a growing need for more practical information on cluster organisations and especially on the services provided by them. As cluster organisations play an important role as service providers to enterprises, this is particularly important for innovative SMEs searching for business and research partners or for better access to finance. Furthermore, this information tool will guide both enterprises and investors to, the best places where a to locate a business or develop new business ideas It is therefore intended to further develop the European Cluster Observatory under the Cluster-IP towards a more ambitious information tool that provides besides statistical information about clusters in Europe also practical information that will facilitate the participation of innovative SMEs in clusters.

The dissemination of the results will be embedded in the communication system of the Europe INNOVA initiative that is established under the CIP-EIP work programme 2008, so that they benefit from the higher visibility of the wider community.

This action will be implemented through an open Call for proposals, within the Europe INNOVA initiative. As a matter of principle, only the most promising proposal for a given sector will be retained for funding. The horizontal action will be also implemented through an open Call for proposals.