European cluster conference with 450 participants 'connecting ecosystems'
The 6th edition of the European cluster conference took place during 14-16 May 2019 in the palace of Parliament in Bucharest, hosted by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The event theme was 'Connecting ecosystems: bridge. inspire. change.'
The conference was organised by the European Commission's Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry of Economy. It gathered 450 national and regional cluster policy-makers and practitioners from industry, research and academia.
The conference featured 2 keynote speeches
- Bianca Dragomir, European cluster manager of the year 2016 presented 7 stepping stones for 'clusters of change' so they can catalyse change at speed and scale
- Markku Markkula, First Vice-President of the Committee of the Regions, emphasised the need to look at regional vale chains and innovation ecosystems and to focus on the sustainable development goals
During the 3-day event, participants had a chance to:
- listen to a panel discussion on how to stimulate strategic interregional collaboration
- take part in interactive group discussions, addressing their key needs, emerging hot topics, as well as how to master digital transformation and sustainability and to create shared value
- get an overview of the different cluster-related EU initiatives and their linkages from a session with the participation of 7 Commission directorate-generals and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology
- connect with each other during a pre-conference EU cluster matchmaking event that attracted 149 clusters and generated 369 face-to-face meetings
The next European cluster conference will take place in November 2020 in Berlin under the German Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will be another chance for connecting ecosystems.
More information about the event: https://www.eucluster2019.eu/en
