Memorandum of Understanding signed in Tunis in presence of European Commission Vice-President Tajani On 8 March 2012
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Férid Tounsi, Director General of the Tunisian Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation (API), Emiliano Duch of the European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI), Kai Engel of the IMP³rove-European Innovation Management Academy (IEIMA) and Sénateur Pierre Laffitte of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) under the chairmanship of European Commission Vice-President Tajani at the occasion of the 10thConference of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) in Tunis (Tunisia).
"Encouraging the Commercialization of Research Results and the Utilization of Cluster Mapping through EU-US Collaborations."
We know that the theme of internationalisation for cluster managers and policy makers is one of your top priorities. It is for this reason that we draw your attention to this conference.
The three day event will bring together US and EU policy makers and networks keen on developing closer ties and sharing good practices.
For further details please contact: 'Mark Spinoglio - from SPI (Irvine) on mspinoglio@usaspi.com
Took place on December 15 in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) the second Transnational Conference on "Clusters, networks and policies for innovation clusters in Europe", organized by the Ministry of Industry and Economy of Galicia by the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (IGAPE ) under Project ATCLUSTERS.
2012 will be the year for DG Enterprise and Industry that will mark the start of a new policy, namely better promoting SME internationalisation through clusters.
New Cluster Concepts in Support of emerging Issues and cross-sectoral Themes
How can clusters live up to the needs of future markets? How can they deliver the goods and services to match the requirements of global trends such as ageing societies or climate change? Against the backdrop of the overall cluster policy trends at EU level, the conference aims at exploring both the challenges and the potentials related to these emerging issues for innovation in clusters.
The European Commission is calling for expressions of interest for the constitution of a "European Cluster Cooperation Forum". The Forum will aim to explore how cluster policies and programmes can facilitate and support the development of emerging industries and hence help create new competitive advantages for Europe. It will have a maximum of 15 members, including a mix of policy makers and industry experts (including clusters managers). The Forum will operate from January 2012 to August 2013, and will hold four meetings during this period.
SME internationalisation through clusters between EU and China to gain momentum
On Wednesday 28 September 2011, the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission hosted an informal meeting with a Chinese delegation led by the Torch High Technology Development Centre of China's Ministry of Science and Technology to explore scope for future cooperation in support of SME internationalisation through clusters.
TACTICS partners /ECA will gather on 20-21 October 2011, in Warsaw, Poland, on the occasion of the conference “Strengthening Cluster Policy Cooperation in Europe – looking ahead to a new policy agenda” they have initiated.
This event is organised by PARP in collaboration with the Polish Ministry of Economy, under the Polish Presidency of the EU Council .
The main objective of this cluster conference is to provide an active debate on how to improve future cluster policies in Europe.
The final cluster event of the year took place in Sophia Antipolis on the 18-19th of November and included the European Cluster Alliance annual General Assembly. The main recommendations of the ECPG report were reviewed during a round table discussion involving ECA representatives from Hungary, Poland, Germany and France. The group discussion focused on issues regarding the type of financial support mechanisms clusters need if they are going to prosper.
