URBAN INNO showcase at TCI 2016

This year TCI conference will take place in Eindhoven, between 8-10 November, and address “Global Changes: Challenges for innovation clusters” in the dynamic context of growing cities, increasing globalisation and rising complexity. The TCI Network is the leading global network of main organisations and practitioners with deep expertise in clusters and competitiveness, and reaches out to 9,000 practitioners from development agencies, government departments, cluster organizations, academic institutions, companies and multilateral organizations in over 110 countries.

This year conference addresses –among others- the development and upgrowth of clusters, in the context of“Cities and competitiveness”, increasingly seen as a key driver of value creation and a key partner in enhancing competitiveness. Cities and clusters can help each other in reaching the global network society (http://www.tci2016.org/tci2016-conference-topics).

Tamara Högler (Head of Innovations and International Affairs at CyberForum e.V.) will showcase the URBAN INNO project within an oral presentation “Clusters as Drivers for Innovation in Smart Cities – A Best Practice”. The presentation will show, why and how clusters can be drivers of innovation for Smart Cities; it will also present critical success factors, but also hurdles and challenges for a sustainable innovation support by showcasing them on real cases which were faced during the previous and running projects.

As a basis of discussion and learning, the following questions will be addressed: (1)Why should clusters be used for innovation support in Urban context? (2) What are the obstacles and success factors for a sustainable innovation ecosystem in a city? (3) How can projects contribute to achieve a sustainable innovation ecosystem?