Transnational Collaborations

Pilot Projects:

Pilot projects gather CLUNET partners around specific topics concerning cross-border collaboration on clusters policies. They bring the partners involved into close relationships to share experience, ideas, or good practices to improve their own policies. They are test-beds which outputs are intended to be further disseminated among clusters policy maker communities to support cluster growth and innovation. The topics are twofold:

• Horizontal (sectors like aerospace, biotech, environment, tourism…)
• Vertical (specific policy issues like incubation, internationalisation…)

All in all, 8 Pilot Projects have been selected in June. Since then, many of them have been showing important progress and slight changes have occurred: the projects "Integrated tourism products" and "helping European chemistry turn green" have been postponed and replaced by "Video interviews of clusters and incubator managers" and "EEN linked to cluster". Project agreements are ready to be signed by the partners involved and their implementation should start in January 2009. The 8 Pilot Projects are described here under:

• Clusters Support Environment (led by NWDA and with the support of Méditerranées Technologies): better understanding of cluster specific support environment (incubators, science parks, pilot plants, demonstrators, etc.) to help businesses in a cluster to develop new products/processes/business models and thereby achieve sustainable growth.
• Life Science Cooperation for Knowledge (led by Etruria Innovazione/Montreal): develop an international Public private partnership in order to enhance the cluster internationalisation process, build an accelerator network and capitalise the acceleration/ internationalisation experience among the CLUNET/ECA partners.
• Pan-European Supercluster (led by Lakes): create an EU Supercluster on environmental issues to gather better practices and use it as a tool to promote environmental business in China.
• Supporting internationalisation of SMEs (led by Filas): exchange and benchmark of internationalisation policy and define a picture of cluster policies dedicated to internationalisation.
• Developing European biotech clusters (led by South Great Plains): internationalisation of clusters, exchange of practices and staff within the biotech sector and mutual mapping of Biotech competences. Direct Involvement of cluster managers.
• Video interviews of clusters and incubator managers (led by PACA Méditerranée Technologies): making of video presentation of clusters and incubator managers of CLUNET regions to be published on a dedicated website, and disseminated among policy makers communities.
• EEN linked to cluster (led by PACA Méditerranée Technologies): use of clusters as a basis for the internationalisation of SMEs by exchanging with relevant clusters technology offers and technology request.

International Collaborations

Montreal Metropolitan Community: A CLUNET partner, the Montreal Metropolitan Community, has established a website which can be viewed in either French or English which provides all the necessary information regarding the CLUNET project.

CLUNET Conference in Montreal, 2007: In September 2007, CLUNET partners met in Montreal with the aim of discussing cluster development policies including sub-themes, whilst building relationships and improving communication between individual partners. More information and photos are available online.