What's on the Network

The final report of the IRE Working Group ‘Regional clustering and networking as innovation drivers’ is available.

Industrial clusters are considered to be a key element for driving innovation and thereby for strengthening European competitiveness. This is reflected in the increasing attention national and regional innovation policy makers pay to developing and implementing cluster policies. The IRE cluster Working Group aimed to create a continuous learning process amongst IRE member regions of how cluster initiatives can be stimulated, developed and promoted. A direct outcome of this should be increased efficiency and effectiveness of public support to cluster initiatives by improving the integration of both policy makers and practitioners in the process.

The final report of the cluster group focuses on five main topics:

• Cluster policies in the regional context.
• Cluster metrics
• Cluster foresight.
• Upgrading companies’ skills and competence through cluster initiatives
• Internationalisation of clusters