Learning Clusters Magazine

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ALL BUSINESS REVIEWS

Five top workshops revisited

THE TCI COM-MUNITYThe 350 that did it for the tribe

CLUSTERNAUTS HAVE LANDED

Message from the (lighter side of the) moon

COFFEE TO GO!First look at the new TCI Cafe

F=C3

The world according to Dr.

Himanen

Madeline Smith: Learning Cluster // Patrick Dixon: Future now! // Doing things differently tomorrow // Patricia’s TOP 5

European UnionEuropean Regional Development Fund

European Social Fund

MAGAZINELEARNING CLUSTERS

ON THE COVERTCI COMMUNITY 31 Global Community at its best 42 Participants

F=C3

14 The world according to Dr. Himanen

ALL BUSINESS18-23 Workhop reviews CLUSTERNAUTS HAVE LANDED 24 Message from the moon

COFFEE TO GO 26 TCI cafe brought clustering challenges to the table

FEATURES

7 Editorial by Rauli Sorvari8 Mission possible9 Script notes10 Personal goals11 On my mind - Christian Ketels12 Once you have seen the future you are

changed15 On your tail: Clusternator Madeline

Smith15, 23, 32, 38 What I thought of

today - Frank Waeltring 17 From academia to practice - Anu Tokila21 Horror stories29 Where do successful clusters come

from?30 Even if you have travelled far and wide30 Off the beaten track33 Classifieds - What are you going to do

differently tomorrow?34 General Manager’s Top 5 Moments

35 Next TCI Global Conference - Message from H.E. Hani al Hamli

36 Miscellaneous Next TCI events Just married Appointment news37 Letters to the editor40 Start of the journey - New TCI

President41 Anatomy of a Learning Cluster45 Expertise from all over the world

12th TCI Annual Global Conference - Learning Clusters adapting to the new competitiveness scenarioJyväskylä, Finland, October 12-16 2009

EDITORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRauli Sorvari, Regional Council of

Central Finland

EDITORSAnna Korpi, EduCluster FinlandKatja Vuori, EduCluster Finland

Mikko Markkanen, Business Arena Ltd.

PHOTOSMatti Kovanen, CopperSky Ltd.

Päivi Tervonen, Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd.

CONTRIBUTORSKatja Vuori, EduCluster FinlandAnna Korpi, EduCluster Finland

Mikko Markkanen, Business Arena Ltd. Päivi Tervonen, Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd.

Jutta MattssonAnu Tokila, University of JyväskyläTiia Lehtinen, Business Arena Ltd.

Frank Waeltring, mesopartnerToni Pienonen, University of Jyväskylä

Madeline Smith, Ekos Ltd. Patricia Valnenebro, TCI

Ifor Ffowcs-Williams, Cluster Navigators Ltd.

Alexandra Friz, MFG Baden-Wûrttemberg

CREDITS

HOSTS Executive Director Anita Mikkonen (Regional Council of Central Finland), Mayor Markku Andersson (City of Jyväskylä) CONFERENCE PROJECT TEAM Director Rauli Sorvari (ECF /

Regional Council of Central Finland), Project Manager Anna Korpi (EduCluster Finland), Programme Design Mikko Markkanen (Business Arena Ltd.), Satu Heikkinen (City of Jyväskylä), TCI General

Manager Patricia Valdenebro (TCI Secretariat), Leire Oiarbide (TCI Secretariat), Luis Ferreres Caro (TCI Secretariat) WEBSITE PRODUCTION AND GRAPHIC DESIGN Preoni Ltd., CEO Teemu

Kettula, AD Kristian Hohkavaara, Web Developer Antti Okkonen LEARNING CLUSTERS NEWS Päivi Tervonen (Jyväskylä Regional Development Company), Jutta Mattsson, Susanna Mäkinen (Jyväskylä Regional Development Company), Tiia Lehtinen (Business Arena Ltd.), Project Manager Katja Vuori (JAMK University of Applied Sciences) PHOTOGRAPHY Matti Kovanen (Coppersky Ltd.) VIDEO

PRODUCTION Neo Kekkonen, Titta Lapinkataja, Kyösti Vilkuna HUMAP TOOL - INTERACTION TOOLS AND ONLINE DIALOGUE IN MAIN CONFERENCE Humap Software Ltd., Pertti Siekkinen

MODERATOR Erkki Toivanen FACILITATORS Eeva-Liisa Vihinen (Humap Ltd.), Elise Tarvainen (Regional Council of Central Finland), Vilma Väisänen (Partus Ltd.), Elina Humala (Jyväskylä Regional

Development Company), Tapio Kymäläinen (DialogueLife Ltd.) PROJECT AIDE TEAM Unelmania / Team Academy, Niku Raatikainen, Noora Kärki, Jussi Tervonen, Päivi Pekkala, Minna Janhonen,

Eeva Kinnunen Mervi Narinen REGISTRATION AND BOOKING SERVICE Jyväskylä Booking, Outi Kiviranta REMAINING MEMBERS OF LEARNING CLUSTERS PLANNING TEAM Elise Tarvainen

(Regional Council of Central Finland), Merja LahtI (Regional Council of Central Finland), Elina Humala (Jyväskylä Regional Development Company), Taija Lappeteläinen (Jyväskylä Regional Development

Company), Päivi Tervonen (Jyväskylä Regional Development Company), Aimo Pellinen (JAMK University of Applied Sciences), Pirjo Kauhanen ( Jyväskylä Educational Consortium) ACADEMIC SUMMIT SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE rofessor Matti Koiranen (University of Jyväskylä), Project Manager Anu Tokila (University of Jyväskylä), Research Coordinator Mika Haapanen (University

of Jyväskylä), Professor Hannu Tervo (University of Jyväskylä), Professor Marja-Leena Stenström (University of Jyväskylä), Leading researcher Jari Ritsilä (University of Jyväskylä) FINNISH CENTRE OF EXPERTISE PROGRAMME COOPERATION Pirjo Kutinlahti (Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy) CLUSTER TOURS Jukka Vilppola (Jyväskylä Educational Consortium), Markku

Paananen (JAMK University of Applied Sciences), Pekka Matinaro (Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd.), Pirjo Nikku (Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd.), Ilpo Kuronen (Kuopio Innovation Ltd.),

Reetta Airaksinen (Kuopio innovation Ltd.), Karen Thorburn (Hermia Ltd.), Tiia Koskinen (Hermia Ltd.), Miikka Raulo (JAMK University of Applied Sciences) TCI BOARD OF DIRECTORS Juan Manuel Esteban (Basque Government), Alberto Pezzi (Generalitat de Catalunyua), Elisabeth Waelbroeck-Rocha

(BIPE), Alonso Ramos Vaca (Desarrollo Económico del Estado de Chihuahua A.C.), Arthur Bayhan (Competitiveness Support Fund), Christian Ketels (Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School), Kevin Murphy (JE Associates), Klaus Haasis (MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH), Nigel Gwynne-Evans (Economic Development & Tourism), Carlos Alvarez (Chilean Economic Development

Agency), Barnabas Nawangwe (Makerere University)

REGIONAL COUNCIL OFCENTRAL FINLAND

LEARNING CLUSTERS MAGAZINE 712th TCI Annual Global Conference - Learning Clusters adapting to the new competence scenario

EDITORIAL

When starting with the production of the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference, three different themes defined its contents and the working methods. The first was the status of the world economy and the work on competitiveness development that has been based on the model by Professor Michael E. Porter. Secondly, the current question in the cluster policy debate is where are we now and how can we raise the level of clusters. The third starting point was further strengthening the global cluster and innovation expert network of TCI.

Following the thinking of Professor Porter, the global and local economies are in a chaos of change. The business environment is defined by the shortage of investments, unemployment and the significant changes in the labour market. Employment and the skill needs are evolving. The demand in many sectors has collapsed, but at the same time most markets are becoming global. There is an even stronger need to build global networks. It thefore seems that all the structures in the economy are on the move all at once.

The Cluster Initiative Greenbook divides different aspects of cluster initiatives into four categories: settings, objectives, process and performance. The results and discussions of the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference can be mirrored against these categories. All four are in transition and as a result, they can be defined with some new contents and weights. Moreover, the typical elements of competitiveness can be complemented with some of the concepts of learning region. These are the ability to manage change, to innovate faster and to cooperate in a more productive manner especially in the global markets. Networks emphasize the challenges of learning in communities and the ability and flexibility to change.

These are some of the ideas behind the theme Learning Clusters. In the working methods of the conference we wanted to maximize the possibilities for sharing knowledge and exchange of experiences. Based on the great amount of documentation we have tried to produce some of the most interesting elements into this Learning Clusters Magazine. Unfortunately we have been able to bring forth only a fraction of all the discussions from the week. In addition to some views from Jyväskylä, the new scenario and the contents of the Learning Clusters concept will be summarised in the conclusions. We hope that this report serves as a reminder of some of the discussions and themes from the conference and will help you keep the important work going towards more successful competitiveness stories.

I would like to personally extend my warmest thanks to all the participants, the speakers, the facilitators, the friends of TCI network and the members of EduCluster Finland network. All of you made the conference and the goals a reality. The work goes on – let’s keep the enriching interaction going!

Rauli Sorvari Regional Council of Central Finland / EduCluster Finland

Rauli Sorvari Programme Manager Rauli Sorvari has been meritorious in the long-term strategic development of education and knowledge development services within the region of Central Finland. He has been the person behind the development of a local emerging cluster, EduCluster Finland over the past years and the leader of many internationalisation processes to strengthen the global operating capacity of the region in different sectors, networks and ventures.

Before his public service responsibilities, he has a long career in business and a distinguished experience from being an entrepreneur. Rauli Sorvari has also acted as the contact person of Regional Council of Central Finland in the TCI network and was the person responsible for the production of the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference.

Adapting to the new competitiveness scenario

8 LEARNING CLUSTERS MAGAZINE

mod maanantaiNotes22,2Body Mass Index85Average heart rate

More information: www.firstbeattechnologies.com Version 3.0.1.015.10.2009 15:35:58This report has been produced by Hyvinvointianalyysi software.

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BRIEFING

Mission possibleWhen we got the call from TCI president on January 22nd 2009 and my boss Rauli Sorvari asked me whether or not I thought we could do it in about a half a year, I didn’t quite know what I was saying yes or no to. I must admit that I went back to that day more than once... Needless to say, the eight months prior to the conference were rather hectic for our core team but it all paid off in the end – thanks to all of you!

The name and theme of the TCI Global Conference 2009 was defined as Learning Clusters – adapting to the new competitiveness scenario. Thinking of the current economic situation, the constant need for change and the factors that build the competitiveness of clusters, we wanted to stress learning as a key tool to face the challenges. We likewise wanted to play with the idea of clusters as networked learning organisations - learning clusters.

As we went along with the programme production, we went kept with this idea of learning as one of the possible strategies to overcome challenges. The workshop themes - vision and leadership, the added value of clusters, the interaction and learning in networks, innovation processes in clusters and the aptitude to identify new business opportunities - are common for all clusters regardless of the field of activity. Similarly, you participants, the cluster and competitiveness practitioners, know best the challenges of this field, so we wanted to make the most of that vast pool of experience present in Jyväskylä 12-16 October 2009. We built the programme and the workshops in a different way than in past conferences to facilitate this joint learning process.

Looking back, some of our ideas worked beautifully, some need more work. Therefore, the conference production has been an effective learning process for us all. We hope you got as much out of it as we did!

On behalf of the Learning Cluster Organising team,

Anna


BRIEFING

Script notesProduction of the 12th TCI conference began long before there was knowledge that the global conference will be held in Jyväskylä. Production team was gathered first to make a much more local conference, but roughly at the same time and for the same target group.

Before any practical issues or anything else was done, the project organisation team held three workshops together with a larger design team of different experts. The design process was based on the expertise of the members of EduCluster Finland, especially Business Arena Ltd. The main focus of these sessions was in two things, to define the goals of the week and to sketch out the working process of the conference. As setting goals it is one of the most important elements in all planning, we were thinking of what the goals of the conference are for the participant, the learner, for TCI, for the organisers and other stakeholders. The goal was ambitiously set to ‘creating the concept of a Learning Cluster’ and this was then broken into different points of view, later defining the themes of the workshops.

The next step was to create the learning process. This means creating a ‘skeleton model’ of a program, a step-by-step picture about the event (see the scheme on the right). What kind of big issues need to be handled and in what order? The first half of the process was drafted to be the opening and broadening the field of vision, then the moment of total chaos. The latter parts of the process were built to close things and bring it into closure. In detail the working phases of the workshops were structured according to the Nonaka and Takeuchi SECI-model of knowledge transfer and knowledge creation: Sharing information, identifying patterns, finding new models, testing the new solutions.

To enhance the experiences of different participants, we played a kind of role-play. The design team was divided into three groups and each wrote a story of why and how a certain character would come to this conference and what would he / she experience. These stories were then put together with the skeleton model and the programme outline was drafted. Many of the not-so-conventional elements of the programme came from these workshops, like the idea of the night track. These stories affected also some of the services, for example the ‘people’-section on conference website was born from them.

After this, the designed learning process and the programme structure evolved some over time with more and more people getting involved into the production. But the goals and structure remained the same.


BRIEFING

PERSONAL GOALS: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your goals”

Tatchawan Kanitpong Graduate School of Business Administration NIDA, Thailand”I am here because I want to learn more about clusters. We have a quite new cluster starting in Thailand, and I think we need some new tools to make it work better.”

Kare Casals Kainuun Etu Ltd, Finland”My goal is to find new ideas for the clusters development. This conference has confirmed some of my thoughts already.”

Barnabas Nawanwge Makerere University, Uganda”I have heard a lot of stories about Finland, especially success stories. I came to find out what magic does Finland and finnish people have, because they can make clusters work for the benefit of bisnes and society.”

Simone Hagenauer The Business Agency of Lower Austria Ltd., Austria”My goal is to find potential partners for future cluster co-operation, mainly in the fields of energy efficient construction & rehabilitation, plastics, food, logistics.”

Nicholas Szechenyi Europa InterCluster, France“My goal is to meet cluster managers to better understand the challenges that they are facing.”

Henna Gustafsson Jyväskylä Regional Development Company Jykes Ltd, Finland“I want to find out more information on cluster development and new trends around the world as well as networking and finding and interesting co-operation for future projects.

John Fredy Pulgarin Sierra Chamber of Commerce of Medellin for Antioquia, Colombia “I hope through knowledge transfer that takes place at the conference we can apply some learning experiences from other clusters to ours.”

Peter ChisawilloTanzania Private Sector Foundation, Tanzania“I am looking forward to learning from the experience of others on how Clusters can accelerate economic development and if they can provide resilience to economic turmoil.”

Kaushik Mukherjee, Karnataka State Financial Corporation, India“I am eagerly looking forward to learning more about the mechanics of clusters, and in this salubrious Finnish autumn, hope to find an answer to the question that has been troubling me for ages: Do the members of a cluster nurture or destroy each other in the long run?”


When TCI was launched a decade ago, clusters were still a relatively new concept for economic development professionals. At the time, one of main goals of TCI was thus to inform policy makers of the potential this approach had, to encourage more cluster efforts to be launched. Since then, the environment has dramatically changed. In Europe and many parts of North America there is hardly a region that does not have some sort of cluster effort. And the idea is catching on elsewhere, from Latin America to Asia to Africa. But support is, of course, not unilateral. And it turns out that looking at how criticism has changed over time can actually tell us quite a bit on how we can improve further improve the quality of cluster efforts.

The traditional concern about cluster policies was focused on the possible distortions they might introduce. For most countries that have used cluster policy this argument has lost considerable weight in the last few years. If there were distortionary effects, they tended to be much smaller than for most other policies that would have been used instead. Cluster efforts turned out to be a way to engage in sector-specific policies in a way that was much less distortive then the traditional industrial policies. One reason is the difference in scope: while traditional policies focused on individual companies or narrow industries, cluster efforts encompass a broader set of related industries and companies. This leads to much less distortion among companies that are in narrow competition for customers or input. The other reason is the nature of the policy tools employed: cluster support tends to come in the form of subsidies for collaboration, investment, or demand, while traditional industrial support used targeted credit or temporary shelter

On my mind - TCI Director Christian Ketels

from competition. But while cluster efforts have been less distortive than initially feared, it remains the case that in countries with weaker institutional structures they can open a pandora’s box of intervention. In such a context, often present in emerging and developing economies, robust program structures are crucial to avoid cluster programs falling into this trap.

The key concern about cluster policies now is on their actual impact. One argument focuses on the nature of cluster policy itself. Despite a number of years of experience with cluster policy, there remains a huge degree of vagueness about what it actually entails. Researchers from the new economic

geography school have tended to see cluster policy as attempts to artificially “create agglomerations” to jump-start a process of then self-supporting cluster growth. The problem in this approach is that it is very hard for the government to determine where such jump-starting might work. And that is why most researchers are highly skeptical of such an approach. Researchers from the cluster school understand cluster policy very differently. They see it as ways to improve the competitiveness of naturally developing agglomeration by improving their internal collaboration, and by making public investments in business environment upgrading in intense dialogue with them. Agglomeration thus becomes a tool to make economic policy more effective, not an outcome that is directly targeted or created through government intervention. Seen this way, cluster policy is much less contentious, even

though differences in opinion about its potential remain.

The other argument concerns the question whether cluster policy is sufficiently scalable. Looking at the experience with the impact of cluster efforts so far, most individual assessments of cluster programs come to quite positive conclusions. These efforts seem to generate beneficial results for the companies and regions involved. Much work still needs to be done on exactly tracking and quantifying the impact of cluster initiatives and programs, but that is the emerging consensus of program evaluations done so far. The problem for policy makers, however, is that success for the participants in a cluster initiative tends to be quantitatively small or even miniscule relative to the economic trajectory of a region or entire country. Can cluster policy be scaled up so that it starts having a meaningful impact at this higher level? There are a number of ideas on how to do this, but so far this remains one of the clear challenges cluster policy has to address over the coming years. It is an issue that tends to be beyond the scope of any individual cluster manager, trying to do the best possible job for his or her cluster. But for TCI as a group of practitioners it is something that we cannot ignore, if we do not want to put at risk the significant political support for cluster policies that currently exists in many countries.

BRIEFING

‘The key concern about cluster policies now is on

their actual impact.’

Dr. Christian Ketels is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden and a member of the Harvard Business School faculty at Professor Michael E. Porter’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.


ONCE YOU HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE, YOU ARE CHANGEDAre you out there enough?

IN THE ARENA


ONCE YOU HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE, YOU ARE CHANGEDAre you out there enough?

Patrick Dixon claims to linger mostly on the outer edge of the radar of future where risk and low probability rule the show. He challenged the participants to try to see the future and try to interpret the emergent signals through the six characteristics of the word future: fast, urban, tribal, universal, radical and ethic.

According to him, every leader should be a futurist in their mindset and in their capacity to pick-up and react to signals. In his view, clusters can enable fast responses to the changing circumstances, but also clustering models need to deliver the results faster. There is no point in developing something for ten years and discovering that its market has vanished. It could be even worth pondering where the resources are best used, is it in R&D or the typical business and regional development or should we use the money in some other ways, better enabling the interpretation of the weak signals?

Despite the work of futurists like Dixon, the dire fact is that there exist no wise men or women who can see the future from their crystal balls and tell the rest of us where to go next. So how is it possible to survive with the speed of changes? Dixon said that emotion and values are some of the key drivers now and in the future and that passion and commitment are some of the best ways to create something successful. He said that he has most commonly found the right combination of passion, motivation, radical thinking and speed in strategy in entrepreneurs, not in multinational corporations, certainly not in government.

IN THE ARENA

F astU rbanT ribalU niversalR adicalE thical


IN THE ARENA

F=c3

Pekka Himanen compared Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie’s jazz improvisation to creativity in clusters. He addressed creativity and competitiveness through the concept of enriching interaction where reciprocal appreciation, enthusiasm, a flow-like state and motivation coexist. These often self-born circumstances give rise to outstanding performances be it in jazz or in the development of information technology, highlighted by the example of Silicon Valley. Additionally Himanen wanted to draw attention to the power of creativity in overcoming challenges even when disparity in scale, the amount of resources or power structures seems overwhelming. According to him, it boils down to the clever use of resources – a circumstance not unknown to many SMEs.

Success stories like Silicon Valley don’t exist everywhere, but it is possible to reach comparable effects in different scales. He saw the TCI Conference as a perfect opportunity for enriching interaction. ‘I want to highlight how unique opportunity this conference is. There are lots of people to meet from far away places. I surely hope that

people will stay in touch with each other after this’, said Himanen.

Where is the potential?Dan Steinbock challenged us about the same challenges of change and speed, but took the thinking most specifically to the cluster policy level. He reminded us that the recent economic recession has been created at the macro economic level but that also the micro economic level and most specifically the frameworks for developing competitiveness need to be adjusted accordingly. He raised the question that since the global economy has changed and will change significantly in the coming years that are the eyeglasses used for competitiveness development the wrong ones. The implications of change have been widely discussed but the reactions to the challenges are yet to be tuned. Steinbock challenged us to use clusters in clever ways and to look for the best possible potential, e.g. from the point of view of productivity increases instead of putting money where the money already is.

What do you say?

‘Pekka Himanen was a very refreshing speaker. Very good choice!’

‘Maybe the content of Dixon´s presentation was a little bit too general, but very interesting anyway’

‘Pekka Himanen speech impressed me immensely and taught me not to take anyones theory or a fact that even the whole world may believe in - for granted’

‘Madeline Smith’s emphasis of being proactively and not reactively innovative, impressed me.’

‘The key note speeches were very insightful and I came back home more challenged to ensure that the process here is better explained with the hope that it is fully embraced.’


IN THE ARENA

Madeline Smith’s keynote had the same title as the whole conference, ‘Learning Cluster’. So what do we mean by this phrase? How can clusters learn? Why should they learn?

She explained why learning is so important in clusters. ‘Clusters have a great potential for learning, for making something more of the different knowledge and people in the network.’ Diverse groups learn quicker and perform better in changing circumstances and create a barrier for crisis for the companies involved in the cluster. She sees that some of the success factors include creating a so called future focus loop and especially the capacity for being proactive instead of just reacting to incoming challenges. It’s practically impossible to mould the ecosystem or the outside circumstances, but easier to try to coach the cluster and the operational culture to being more capable to face the challenges.

The problem is how to create the circumstances for this kind of operational culture in clusters where different ideas, people, organizations, priorities and goals coexist. “You only need a small amount of distrust to break down the whole system”, said Madeline Smith highlighting the importance of trust in clusters and business networks.

ON YOUR TAIL:Clusternator Madeline Smith

Madeline Smith is the Head of Innovation at Ekos Ltd where she works with innovation, cluster development and industry policy

What I thought of todayFrank Waeltring, mesopartner

How many real business companies involved in cluster initiatives are in this hall?, asked Patrick Dixon from Global Change Ltd. straight to the audience. “No, no, I do not mean the consultancy businesses who try to get some contracts during these days!”- “Nobody, ups! But do you not want to sell your regions to them, that they come to boost innovation in your localities? “

“When the world changes fast, keep looking further ahead” was the title of his lively, comedy and preacher style speech on the 3rd day plenum session. According to the Conference workbook Dixon is one of the leading international business consultants of multinational companies. Much more important is that he provided an insight into the business and change realities he works in. And if he talks he likes to put the finger into the wound: “The point why businesses are not here is: they just do not get your messages!

Dixon is not only a good performer while running through the audience, changing slides like a maniac to reap burst of laughter form the listeners. 100s of nodding heads in the hall demonstrated that he speaks out what many others think but cannot say loudly in their daily work life. For me the main message he came up with, although not new but in a very straight way, was this one: “Businesses are the ones who are most innovative. And if we do not understand and talk to businesses, how will we understand innovation?” Clusters are not made by governments or public bodies, and we have to consider that in our daily life. What then is our role? We need to understand better the complexity of business processes and the changing environment in which businesses operate. Accordingly we ourselves have also to reflect about our promotion approaches, communication and facilitation formats with businesses.

www.mesopartner.com

then I fell in love with them!

First I was confused by the silent Finns…

www.humantechnology.fi

By listening in silence when others are speaking, Finnsare showing respect. It can take a while to get to knowa Finn well, but when you do, you’ll gain a friend for life,or a loyal business partner. You are very welcome to DOBUSINESS WITH US.


As a part of the main conference the Academic Summit concentrated cross-disciplinarily on academic aspects of learning clusters. The Summit hosted by the School of Business and Economics brought together up to 80 participants. The topics of the day dealt with learning clusters from several different aspects including their regional dimension, contribution to innovations and development of such clusters. The day was started with a keynote lecture by doctor Jukka Teräs from Scuola Superiore Sant´Anna, Pisa. With 20 years experience in the fields of high technology and regional development familiarized the audience with regional science-based clusters in non-metropolitan regions and what can we learn from them.

During midday the participants had a pleasure to get acquainted with 15 interesting research cases from different countries. Audrey Leveque from Liege gave a presentation at the Innovation session about “Inter-organizational learning within innovation projects: critical stages, issues and good practices”. The project is run by a multi-

IN THE ARENA

disciplinary team, who analyze the partnership collaboration in innovation projects within competitiveness clusters in the French-speaking Belgium with a focus on inter-organizational learning and project management. Leveque thanked the helpful comments she got to improve their paper. She was also happy to get comparison information and contacts to clusters in Finland and Germany. “Thanks to the Summit, I could get a lot of interviews which entered directly in the benchmarking in our research. This was really useful”, she summarized.

The chair of the Summit, professor Matti Koiranen was very impressed by the variety of conference papers. “The common nominator “clustering” was present all the time, but the topics varied from A to Z. This year’s key focus “learning clusters” created several interpretations and excellent discussions”, he pointed out. The main result from his viewpoint was to see how learning clusters can enhance innovativeness and entrepreneurship at a regional level. The case studies described this kind of development very convincingly.

At the end of the day, professor Charlie Karlsson from Jönköping International Business School explained how we can proceed from learning clusters to creative clusters. The problem with a pure learning cluster is that it is entirely focused on the build up of absorptive capacity and not investing in the generation of new knowledge. Karlsson emphasized that viable clusters must be able to combine the two faces of

FROM ACADEMIA TO PRACTICEAnu Tokila, University of Jyväskylä

innovation i.e. learning and knowledge generation.

Overall, the busy day offered a great opportunity for networking and exchanging information and ideas. One of the participants, Laura Timonen thinks that she got a good idea of the current hot topics in the field of clusters. She has recently started her work as a project researcher at South Karelian Institute, Lappeenranta University of Technology in a project about structural change in the regional economic structures, which has a lot to do with both clusters and learning. “The Summit provided me with a wider perspective on cluster development and on structures that don’t necessarily have to be tied to specific industries or sectors, but more widely to creativity, learning and flexible competencies. I also got a good amount of references for future use and I will definitely use the conference materials in later work”, she evaluated.

Despite newest research methods and exciting results, it was the people, who made it worthwhile to attend the Academic Summit. As professor Koiranen stressed in his closing speech: “Although we could have organized this summit in the internet, the virtual milieu could not have been as innovating as our face-to-face contacts are here. One of the key elements in learning is social interaction, and this Summit has been a good forum and arena for such fruitful interaction.”


ALL BUSINESS

GROUNDS FOR SUCCESS OR FAILURE Workshop 1: Vision and leadership for clusters

Details Hosted by TCI Director Alberto Pezzi, facilitated by Jaana Kettunen, University of Jyväskylä

Scene: There is a strong recognition of the need for new leadership as one of the key elements in creating the joint futures in clusters and business networks. Workshop 1 dealt with the primary factor determining whether clusters are effectively doing the right things towards the shared vision.

Share, identify, find: The group started joint work by investigating the similarities

and differences in leadership in the presented cases. Some were more business driven, some more by government or academia. Nevertheless, the common factor was that the most important task of a network leader is to effectively support the creation of an atmosphere of open-minded and inspiring community of cooperation within the network. Challenges for a leader were found for example from breaking mental models.

Conclusions: The network leader must tend to both substance and process but equally lead people. There was a discussion on the

characteristics of leadership in clusters overall and a point was made that the role of a cluster manager is yet a different role than network leadership as a whole. It can be questioned of whether there can even be a cluster leader or is the most effective framework shared leadership.

The group identified that leadership in clusters and networks is first and foremost about leading with a vision. The group didn’t find a common recipe for successful vision building and leadership in clusters but identified several important characteristics of network leaders (see figure above). The

simple mandate to operate is not enough; true leadership is needed for creating and securing the common vision and the participants’ continuous commitment towards the shared goals. Leading in clusters and the leadership in different cluster stakeholder organisations should move in the same direction, even when crossing with the organisational boundaries and priorities.

How do you find time to do face-to-face work in large networks? How do you make sure that everybody is on the same page? How do you solve problems in networks without the traditional authority settings? How about cluster-wide development discussions?


ALL BUSINESS

DetailsHosted by TCI Director Klaus Haasis and facilitated by Elina Humala, Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd.

IT’S THE MONEY, STUPID!Workshop 2: Show me the money!

Scene: The primary goal of businesses and clusters in the global world is to create added value and to increase revenue. Workshop 2 addressed no less than the raison d’être of clusters.

Share, identify, find: The workshop cases highlighted that it’s all about getting to the core of value chains. As was pointed out by one of the participants: ‘Businesses and their interests need to run the show in clusters’. Nowadays these value chains typically have a global reach and the challenge for clusters is to make also the global connections work.

One of the things widely discussed was bringing in the mechanism of financing into the cluster processes. Financing is a means to support growth and renewal of businesses and a membership in a

cluster should increase the possibility for private investment also for the SMEs. One of the things that was brought to the table was that fruitful initiatives do not necessarily even need public funding but are rather organic.

Conclusions: In short, added value of clustering = increased sales, new products and services. The added value comes from the cluster manager setting the stage, but letting the business men do what business men do best. This is a given, but the ways of setting the stage and enabling the circumstances of growth and innovation need constant work. For example the question of financing and venture capital could be seen as a good way to ensure purely business driven development aside more regulated and rigid public funding. The key role of the

cluster manager here could be to brand and make sure that the investors see the whole cluster and value co-creation network as an appealing target for investment. However, building and implementing the strategy of the cluster can not be only the sole responsibility of the cluster manager, but all the stakeholders.

As all the main speakers pointed out, the world around us is changing faster than ever. To act to the changing circumstances of competitiveness calls for strategic agility also on the cluster level from all the relevant stakeholders. It was agreed that clusters are a good means to sharing risks, costs of operation and development, investments but can also be an effective buffer for circumstances such as the current economic recession. All this requires

How to secure added value of cooperation to all stakeholders? How to bring the benefits of MNCs and their global reach to local clusters? How do you make the added value visible with demands for short term wins in long development processes?

Look closer: Jaana Kettunen and Elina Humala were both recruited two days before the conference due to some last minute cancellations. A big hug for both of you for being brave enough to take the challenge!

both the ability to keep the operational processes going and successful but also the eye on the strategy with a perceptive, agile and proactive mindset.


ALL BUSINESS

FROM ENRICHING INTERACTION TO GREAT SUCCESSWorkshop 3: Global interaction and learning in clusters

DetailsHosted by TCI Director Elisabeth Rocha and facilitated by Elise Tarvainen, Regional Council of Central Finland

together and why is it so hard?”.

Bringing competence development and learning into the picture of business development is not an automatic process. A case from Central Finland showcased one method of helping local businesses incorporate the development of expertise and skills as the key method in developing competitiveness. Based on the examples from the Veneto region, Alessandro Minello from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice saw developing a culture of learning cluster as a critical point in the future of clusters. In the case from Cyprus, competence development not only created the driver for new tourism entrepreneurship but also

formed the first steps for community empowerment.The group identified three key competences for the future: adaptability tuned to the customer needs, strategic thinking and active knowledge-oriented global approach. Lifelong learning is one the keys to establishing proactive thinking, and it needs to be given time everyday. There is food for thought in everything: every success and failure is an opportunity to build on, not just by individuals or in organizations, but also in clusters and networks.

Conclusions: The workshop ended with the participants agreeing that the subject needs more work. The group agreed that one step towards cluster-wide learning process might

Scene: Effective and goal-oriented learning and renewal has been identified as one of the ways to respond to the changing circumstances. Workshop 3 was reflecting on the challenge of learning in and across the local and global networks.

Share, identify, find: “Why do clusters need to learn?” was one of the questions Madeline Smith raised first thing on Wednesday morning. The next questions are: “how do we learn

be a cluster development agreement. The concrete progression path and also the challenge of enhancing learning in clusters start with first creating the atmosphere of trust and open communication. The list continues with setting the goals of joint learning and development, the everyday management of learning processes and finally the ways of evaluating and measuring the impacts of learning for the competitiveness of businesses. However, even this element of cooperation comes down to the physical, concrete opportunities of interaction – the forums, the incentives, the tools – for learning from others, for sharing knowledge, for producing the fruits of enriching interaction.

Why do clusters need to learn? How to establish enriching interaction and learning in clusters?


ALL BUSINESS

WORKSHOP 2: INTERNATIONALISATION OF CLUSTERSAlexandra Friz, MFG Baden-Württemberg

More than 50 international Cluster experts discussed during the World Café organised by the TCI German Contact Point the chances of cluster internationalisation. Lucia Seel, Clusterland Oberösterreich and Michael Lill, IHK Zetis, made up a list highlighting qualifications and characteristics a cluster manager should bring along in the process of cluster internationalisation. The participants defined that a cluster manager should be ambassador, integrator and strategic consultant at the same time. Alltogether, cluster internationalisation requires a charismatic leader speaking the different languages of the different stakeholders.

Pascal Lampe, NIRO, discussed with the participants whether internationalisation of clusters makes the difference and is meaningful in the current economic crisis. Cluster experts mainly agreed that cluster internationalisation is indeed meaningful. Yet, the the management staff first has to decide what they want to achieve by cluster internationalisation: the internationalisation of companies or of the cluster management itself.

Christoph Beer and Nicolas Szechenyi, Inter Cluster, asked at their tables what participants expect from an international platform like TCI. Participants mainly asked for more possibilities to meet throughout the year and to have a continuing exchange of ideas, visions and working methods. It was agreed that a clear added value of TCI should consist in learning across borders and in connecting people.

HORROR STORIES

Case 1. No signs of enriching interactionOnce upon a time, there was a great idea upon which a group of public and private actors started to build a cluster. All the stakeholders saw great opportunities in the joint efforts and the idea was deemed highly innovative among both people outside and inside the emerging cluster.

However, after one year of enthusiastic operations the momentum started to break down. Suddenly none of the key actors kept the initiative of the highest priority, the management was no longer committed to the joint actions and many of the remaining people involved lost faith and mandate to operate in the network. Looking back, the reasons behind might be seen both in the lack of short-term victories but also in the lack of long-term commitment and in the lack of honest and open cooperation. Up to now, the actors have been looking only for gains but not willing to let go of organizational boundaries, openly share information and find true, new and flexible solutions to create new business.

Case 2. Much to say about nothingA cluster group in a workshop passionately identified their forward agenda, including a division of responsibilities for immediate action that significantly broadened the cluster’s development agenda. Then at the end of the workshop the sponsoring economic development agency said to all: ‘Thanks for coming, we will now take your recommendations for action to our Board for their consideration.’

The energy of what had been a self-help cluster group immediately collapsed, the Board had little knowledge of the cluster and no passion, and nothing happened afterwards. Bureaucracy had stepped in and flattened the clustering initiative, that has now retreated back to its earlier (limited) development agenda. Ugh! Learning: A cluster’s sponsors (usually public agencies) need to be comfortable in allowing the clustering initiative to develop and manage its own agenda, and not to micro-manage this.


ALL BUSINESS

ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVENESSWorkshop 4: Creativity and sustainable competitiveness

DetailsHosted by TCI President Juan Manuel Esteban and facilitated by Vilma Väisänen, Partus Ltd.

Scene: As was established in many parts of the conference, competitiveness is not a stable issue and to excel and sustain competitiveness in the current circumstances calls for new means. Workshop 4 discussed different ways of building sustainable competitiveness in networks – one of the core elements of the ‘new competitiveness scenario’.

Share, identify, find: The group set to ‘steal with pride’ from the experiences of others on building sustainable competitiveness through creativity and innovation. One of the solutions for this was to move from so called gravity based model to client based model in innovations. As many other discussions, also workshop 4 examined the possibility of moving from the triple helix approach to a ‘superior scale’ of creativity, entrepreneurship and ecosystem to link clusters and innovation systems better.

Conclusions: There was a short but efficient examination of what are the elements of sustainable competitiveness according to the participants. The

statement ‘to make it you have to learn faster than your competitive environment’ is not far from the truth. It seems that some of the key factors are the ability to listen to the markets and to constantly innovate but at the same time motivate the people to change and renew their capacities, even ‘drive the change’. It could be a useful tool to clearly define the factors that are the

cornerstones of competitiveness of each cluster and more importantly define the means and elements that will be used to secure the competitiveness if one or more of the factors change. Sort of a pre-emptive strike on change.

Where is the creativity in clusters? What does it mean? What is sustainability to my me?


WHATEVER WILL COME NEXTWorkshop 5: Clusters in a new world

ALL BUSINESS

DetailsHosted by TCI Director Alonso Ramos Vaca and facilitated by Eeva-Liisa Vihinen, Humap Ltd.

Scene: One of the most pressing themes of the conference was responding to the change and future challenges. Workshop 5 tried to bring the issue from all talk to practice in clusters.

Share, identify, find: ‘We identified that it’s not only the economy changing, but also some other aspects’, said Alonso Ramos, the host of the workshop. The group identified six trends to meet in clusters:

1. Globalization2. Economic geography3. Climate change4. Technology acceleration5. Bottom of the pyramid – the rise of

the emerging economies6. Focus on the individual

From these, climate change perspective emerged to have a heavy focus in the group, but in the active and energetic

conversation, connections with the other five perspectives were made as well. The group agreed that all the trends present opportunities to use the markets to push for solutions, but that also the clustering models need to adapt to the changing logics. Two optional models of the new approach better tuned for the new challenges and opportunities were sketched and one of them was selected to be improved in practice.

Conclusions: As highlighted by the hourglass figure above, the core question is ‘how’. Clusters are in the focal position to both absorb and interpret the looming challenges and the regulating environment as well as to gather the strengths of the players pictured at the bottom of the pyramid. The ‘how’ starts with global thinking, local action, flexibility and openness to new ideas.

We remain curious to finding out what will come out of this further development of the model to help the rest of us react better to whatever will come next.


“How to promote clusters based on more than a “snap shot insight” of business reality? Persons who want to promote innovation have to be innovative in their approaches themselves. And they have to be open to put into question their own thinking and action, ask further questions, look for new answers and new ways of doing things. And last but not least they have to be able to reflect about their own role as “change facilitators”! The 3rd day of the TCI Conference focused very much on the question of how we as practitioners learn, how we interact and with whom do we interact while working?

“What are our guiding mental models that drive our initiative and our work?”, asked Madeline Smith from Ekos Ltd in her great morning input. Often cluster practioners and policy advisors are very much driven by their own mindset of how the innovation system should be set up, should work and how we should intervene. “We need to change” says Smith, “challenging our cognitive barriers”. Her insights were related to her Scottish Enterprise study “Exploring cluster dynamics using the system thinking methodology” in which she empasized the need for a more reflection loop-oriented intervention approach.In this study and in her speech she emphasized an issue which can also be seen as a golden thread of comments during the workshop discussions here at the Conference: “One of the issues encountered by many public sector bodies when developing a clusters strategy is that much analysis of the industry sectors only gives a “snap shot” of how the cluster operates.”

So how can we encourage learning in our cluster and in other economic initiatives that go beyond a snap shot perspective?, is a key question that has not been sufficiently tackled in this Conference. Smiths answer: “Start with pilot projects close to businesses, get different perspectives involved, work with a multidisciplinary and creative team”. And listen more to businesses, because they are the drivers of innovation!

www.mesopartner.com

Can we build a clock rather than tell the time?


TURNING POINT

MESSAGE FROM THE MOONA fearless multinational group of clusternauts gathered to Jyväskylä Bedrock Planetarium on Wednesday night with a mission.MISSION OBJECTIVE: To explore what’s on the cluster development agenda 2.0.


TURNING POINT

MESSAGE FROM THE MOONA fearless multinational group of clusternauts gathered to Jyväskylä Bedrock Planetarium on Wednesday night with a mission.MISSION OBJECTIVE: To explore what’s on the cluster development agenda 2.0.

CLUSTERNAUTS TO GROUND CONTROL:Reporting after achieving the target. [STOP] Small steps for clusters and clusternauts but a giant leap for competitiveness. [STOP] We, the multinational team heralded from Canada, Chile, Denmark, India, Latvia, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, and Sweden and Finland would like to thank everyone for the excellent world class work. [STOP]

MISSION OUTCOME: Small steps for clusters - a giant leap for competitiveness

In the turbulent circumstances created by the deep recession of the world economy, the clusternauts identified a need to renew the tools and methods of business and competitiveness development towards sustainable competitiveness. The goal was like a trip to the moon in the 1960s, a trip to the unknown but not out of reach. Even the basis was the same as in the 60s, the passion and the belief in knowledge and know-how, the ability to create activity towards the shared mission. The basis for this leap can be found in the top expertise of the network of cluster practitioners and scientists. Because of a determined and practice oriented science of clusters, we have been able to have and use all the relevant data for the development of clusters. In addition, the received training has given us the ability to understand the steps of development processes, to create network leadership and support innovation in clusters. The interaction between different key

SMALL STEPS FOR CLUSTERS1. Know what to expect by

establishing a well defined science of clusters

2. Get past the grand terms of policy in the flight manual – map out what really happens

3. Create passion to execute the joint vision even when stuck in the spaceship with no clear sight of the moon

4. Create the conditions for enriching interaction and cooperation

5. Refine the knowledge to steer the spacecraft, the clusters, redevelop the competences making sure the ship gets to where it’s going

6. Lure in the Jupiters, the multinational corporations, make them know of the special expertise available by clustering

7. Be open minded in thinking of where the next shooting star, new idea is going to come from

8. React fast to incoming threats in the radar – meteors, black holes and changing conditions

stakeholders has been enriching and given birth to many new innovations. On our trip, the engine of the cluster space craft has functioned flawlessly. The technical solutions have been right and executed with quality. Both global companies and small specialized enterprises have been able to incorporate their strategies and operations enabling cross-border solutions and processes. The operations have been fit for long space travel, but bringing forth the ability for strategic re-directing, joint risk-taking and problem-solving. The cooperation has performed surprisingly well, thanks to clear roles. Intelligent evaluation has supported further efficiency in action.

The decision to search the next sphere was the right one. Cluternauts extend a thank you for Ground Control for the strong support and connections. We see new joint opportunities and will develop the competence by being Future Wise. Roger.


MID-CHECK

On thursday morning I arrived to the TCI Cafe in Jyväskylä. I had heard a lot about this Cafe and because of that I had plenty of time to savour the whole menu in good company. The week so far had been filled with hard work and I wanted these few hours to be the moment to put all the new pieces and ideas into place.

StartersThe starters were a true “tapas of insights”. There were as many answers and insights as there were new questions. Most of the issues were somehow about how should we re-think our whole approach and language when talking about competitiveness and clusters. And for most this doesn’t mean new complex models, but more down to earth or rustic style of approach.

Here are some of the most common insights:- Should we see cluster development as an evolving process, from which you have to learn.

Organic vs. planned growth? Or organic vs. constructed cluster!- Clustering - What exactly do we mean? Is it cooperation? Is it value chain? Networking?

Regional development? What about virtual development and virtual clusters? Or does it mean different things in different areas and situations? Do we need consensus on cluster definition or is it ok and richness to have different definitions?

- Different clusters need different tools!- Clustering is a people thing, we need to go beyond models! - Trust & tribes (ethics & emotion) could be the answer! This can be linked to social media and

more “power to the people” style of leadership.- Communications vs. static world.- So far the most valuable thing has been stories from different countries. The diversity of

experiences, methods and structures are amazing! But when we are talking about sharing stories, do we also accept failures? We don’t hear much of them?

Main CourseThe main course looked quite versatile, although few basic ingredients did dominate the plate.

Many saw the building of a balanced network as a challenge. But maybe it comes down to showing benefits and motivating, especially companies and entrepreneurs. Development work in clusters is done in a long time perspective, but most businesses might evaluate their interests in a very short timeframe.

Menu

Starters

What were your main encouraging and inspiring

insights from the TCI Conference until now?

Main course

What do you see as main challenges to promote

competitiveness in your own work?

Dessert

What do we need to change in our work and

behaviour in order to be more demand driven?

TCI CAFÉ BROUGHT CLUSTERING CHALLENGES TO THE TABLE


MID-CHECK

Also, building awareness about the need to develop can be hard, because this idea should be identified by the actors themselves, not from outside. ‘We need to get to the street level, get to know the entrepreneurs and business people, is someone asking what they want? They are our customers. Common vision comes from them, we just need to keep asking and listening. HRD ROI = sharing the human capital, building competencies. Are there any good examples? Why is there no interest to this?’- How to measure results of the cluster work in companies? Results need to be communicated

in a simple and straightforward way?- Long term results need patience!- Multiple demands, no common goals- How to make companies understand service offer?

This can be linked to the size and shape of the cluster. A critical mass is required to have enough momentum but on the other hand, too many players might bring too many objectives. Almost everyone thought that equal involvement of academia, government and the private sector was needed. But if we start to think about the key processes inside the cluster, should there be some other “roles” too? How would you build a dream team in any other context? Would you consider different learning styles? Or roles when innovating the vision for the cluster or when putting the plans into action?

There were also a lot of talk about the way different people and organisations participate, communicate and act inside the cluster. And also between clusters! What if learning is the most important process inside a cluster? If so, what are the main challenges? And what then is the main job that the cluster manager needs to do? What is cluster manager there for?

Local vs. global? If the businesses are working and acting global, how can we build local clusters? On the other hand, people and enriching interaction between people is mostly a local thing, how do we balance these?

DessertAlthough starters and the main course had left me quite full, I still wanted to have a taste of something sweet. It has always been my favourite, and this time too it brought the whole experience into more personal level, it was about the things I will change in my own work. Here are some of the most common and most ambitious changes:- We need to use more learning-by-doing.- Schemes to develop cooperation between enterprises and education providers. - Ease up and speed up the innovation process- We will create the right environment to identify the real needs, share vision.- Entrepreneurial skills are the answer! Cluster managers need to think their job like

entrepreneurs.- Listen to the customer- Challenge existing wisdom- Accept diversity- Do what you are good at- Attract people with passion and trust!

In the end, I have to say The TCI Cafe has potential. The menu can be hard to digest, but it will leave me full of ideas for a long time.

TCI CAFÉ BROUGHT CLUSTERING CHALLENGES TO THE TABLE

EduCluster Finland is a business and expert network madeup of consultancy businesses, public education organizationsand regional development agencies.

EduCluster Finland offers customer oriented learning anddevelopment services combining education and innovationexpertise from diverse domains and levels of education.Services range from knowledge development and learningtechnology solutions to innovation and regional developmenttools and concepts. Our operating mode is client-basedprocessing of development and learning where creativelearning environment, top expertise and best practicescoexist. Our clients are companies and public institutions.www.educlusterfinland.com

Did you learn during the conference?

As its best, learning is like a river whichCarries you along and becomes to flow*

*Flow is a mental state of energized focus and full involvement

At its best, learning is like a river which carries you along and becomes to flow*


Ifor Ffowcs-Williams, Cluster Navigators Ltd:

The secret of a successful clustering initiative is trust building. It also needs a broad portfolio of development initiatives underway and the cluster firmly in control of its destiny, not beholden to others. There are lot of features that need to be developed. Like trust, dialogue, openness, alignment; moving from a clutter of public agency support and clumps of firms to an integrated, innovative system.The most common mistakes in clusters are lack of agreement on the direction, paralysis by analysis and only short term funding in place to support long term development agendas. Mistakes happen also, when public sector funders base in capital cities and dictate the cluster’s agenda, and also when work load is not shared and key people are burned out.

TCI Director Elisabeth Rocha, BIPE:

The secret of a successful cluster is to remain open for changes . Second important thing is good teamwork. The energy should´t be wasted in tangling with the problems inside the company or cluster. The success lies in being open to outside world and the region around the cluster. A good cluster achieves the balance of the growth. All people in the region should be benefitting from it, not just the one sector involved in the cluster. A successful cluster spreads its growth to other sectors in the region as well. It is too often forgotten, how important it is to look far ahead to the future. Many times we focus only on the present, which is a mistake. A cluster turns out bad if there is some company which is thinking only itself and doesn’t add any benefit to others. Usually that kind of company is involved only because of the public funding.

Policy Officer Nikos Pantalos, European Commission / DG Entr:

A good cluster brings together different innovation actors. The actors can be small or multinational companies or universities. The public domain’s part is to create the framework for cluster development. All these components should work together. The key element for success is innovation. Because of this it´s also important not to underestimate the meaning of education. The innovativeness should be fed later on with enhancing the entrepreneurship and having a qualified staff. That should sustain the success.In the clustering initiatives it’s a mistake if the regional assets aren’t taken into account. For example it’s very hard to create an informatics cluster if there’s no ICT or biotech in the region. Policy makers should understand that good clusters are created on the base of something already existing.

SVP, Talent Management, Hilkka Alatalo-Korpi, Metso Ltd:

I believe that the success of the cluster can be seen in a increase of innovation, productivity and attractiveness of the employer brand. The most important feature in a cluster is a mind set of sharing and trust - and well defined long-term goals. However I believe that in the future the innovativeness and new shares solutions will have the critical aspects. The most common mistake in clusters is done when the official structure and the plan do not follow the needs of the cluster members.

MID-CHECK

WHERE DO SUCCESSFUL CLUSTERS COME FROM?


SURPRISING INPUTS

EVEN IF YOU HAVE TRAVELLED FAR AND WIDE Bonk Business Inc. excels in R&D.

One of the older Finnish companies, now 106 years old in fact, is still one of the most innovative companies in this country. One could almost say that it is a company that has no competition, the ultimate competitive edge.

As the participants of the conference were told by compressor Sven Triloqvist, Bonk Business Inc. is a multiglobal industrial conglomerate employing 13000 in 52 countries. Bonk is the world leader in pioneering Third Millennium technologies such as fully Defunctioned Machinery, Cosmic Therapy, Repacking, ADS (Advanced Disinformation Systems) and LBH (Localised Black Holes). One of the examples of Bonk R&D is the Anchovy Dynamo where now extinct Baltic anchovy swam right in the machine producing an extremely viscous lubricant. And this was only one of the many achievements almost impossible to believe.

Are you also in the business of repacking and disinformation?

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Learning Journey into the wildNo one complained about the cold weather, as 13 people attented the learning journey on Wednesday. It took the participants hiking outdoors to Hitonhauta - the devil’s grave. The journey combined storytelling and a workshop around a campfire. - Our goal was to get a new perspective on things as we thought about them in a different environment, says Tapio Kymäläinen who guided the group.

According to him, the group had conversations about the themes introduced on the main conference earlier. - We talked about the accelerating speed of the world and how the pace slows down automatically in the nature.

One purpose was to think alone in the silence, which turned out harder than one might think. -I told everybody to be silent and think as we walked back to the campfire. It turned out to be very challenging. According to Mr Kymäläinen the silence was achieved finally while sitting around the fire. - It created a comfortable silence. So we reached our goal.


ENTERTAINMENT

Global community at its best



“Did we lose the market out of perspective while promoting innovation systems?” In quite not few of the presentations and inputs during the Conference there is no word mentioned about the challenges of businesses to stay or become more competitive. A lot has been said about policies and strategies on innovations, concepts, research projects and the new design of funding programmes at the EU-, national and regional levels. If we brainstorm e.g. in workshops on main criteria of sustainable competitiveness only 2 from 35 answers are related to markets. One might get the impression that we feel quite comfortable when clustering ourselves together to reflect about innovation while losing the aspect of competitiveness out of sight.

This should be a provocative statement and also understood accordingly. Nonetheless, my impression is that the more we talk about radical, incremental, process, product and system innovation it seems that we lose sight of the market. Although technology-push activities are necessary in some aspects, the pull elements are nearly not mentioned anymore in this Conference. Some years ago we very much discussed the logics of regional economic development and the driving importance of demand conditions (see e.g. Porters diamond), and wanted to understand and promote the national (or global) value chain systems and its business relations between suppliers, producers, big buyers and SMEs and customers (see e.g. Porters five forces).

It seems to me that while focusing on the discussion of innovation and R&D promotion, the market fell off the agenda somewhere in between the whole complexity. This is quite contrary to the findings of international studies. Let´s just mention 2 main findings from the European Commission and UNCTAD reports. The presentation of Mette Quinn (workshop 4) on creative industries and service clusters in Sweden points out that most of the innovation emerges inside businesses due to their intensive learning processes from customers as well as from creative ideas of their own employees. This is a valueable insight for the service sector of a very industrialized country. If you look at the latest UNCTAD LDC technology report you see that most of the innovation learning processes of SMEs in less developed countries also come from their customers, suppliers as well as other producers.

R&D in industrialized as well as developing countries plays still a very marginal role in the promotion of innovation. Maybe there are trickle-down effects. For sure they are somewhere. Nonetheless: isn´t it time to consider these real innovation realities more intensively, approaching the analysis of innovation systems again much more from the business perspective. Michael Enright said in a workshop session: “85% of real innovations are coming from businesses and are demand-driven. 99% of the innovation promotion programmes are focusing on technology-push approaches.” This is an astonishing imbalance, is it not?

www.mesopartner.com

MISCELLANEOUS


I will be more creative in coming up with different ways to build sustainable clusters. I will bring people together in order to have a clear picture of where we are today, what are the challenges we are facing and define a vision of where we want to be in the future.

I will improve communication to get to approach demand driven solutions. I will look for shot-time 'low-hanging fruits' to get members involved and create a sense of belonging. My long-term goal is to be able to improve cluster competitiveness.

I will use these new ideas in the writing of the new project plan for the cluster initiative pending for finance in 1 Jan 2010.

I will put learning into practice by integrating new experiences and look for new solutions in the network of peope when needed.

I intend to ensure that 3 clusters are developed (tourism, agroprocessing, horticulture) and intend to apply the Swedish model of development

I willuse the contacts I made in the conference in my future efforts and distribute my new insights at home. I will be creating initiatives, which will bring together the triple helix players for debate on competitiveness and engage the policy makers to create frameworks for innovation in Pakistan.

I will proceed with direct actions to / with main actors of the process and by preparing an action plan for regional cluster policy.

I will try to become a better leader in my organization back home: try to become a salmon

I will create more awareness to the public sector authorities and cluster leaders in Tanzania, especially on cluster management

I willtry to find a way to give up the idea that each stage in cluster development needs management skill -without getting the effect of disappointment cluster leaders that are disengaged

I will do a re-strategic planning of my company way of developing clusters, keeping companies in the focus point and constructing a bottom up-strategy

I will rethink and consider the branding strategy of the cluster e.g. according to the branded warehouse -idea

I will lobby the public sector for more funding into the management of clustering process

I will work to establish a community of people interested in learning strategies for impact. This community will share insight through web, email, twitter etc.

As a government officer I will put my efforts in getting involved people in clusters and will expose the main outcomes and lessons learned about leadership

I will create more interaction btw different stakeholders

I will make a detailed presentation to my colleagues and send email to my chairman with recommendations for changes

I will allocate time for proactive innovative thinking in my organisation

CLASSIFIEDS


TOP 5 MOMENTS THE 12TH TCI ANNUAL GLOBAL CONFERENCE TCI General Manager Patricia Valdenebro

Meeting with friends and colleagues like every year, and checking that we keep on having the same open attitude to share and learn, and the family keeps on growing!

As Competitiveness Practitioner, some flashes of the program (although I could not make it to be present in many sessions): the open dialogue with cluster facilitators at Clusters 101, Irina, Christoph and Klaus (some clusters initiatives are in good hands), R&D at Bonk (sounds like quite familiar repacking and disinformation policies), inputs from the regional activities and working groups within TCI, plus new initiatives emerging (thanks to all the members involved, your work enriches TCI).

The warm welcome and professional work of the whole Learning Clusters organizing team, it was really easy to work with you. My special thanks to Rauli (you’d better do not answer the phone on Friday afternoons), Mikko (keep on having crazy ideas) and Anna (smooth, organized and elegant in mind and manners). We will try to keep the best of Jyväskylä for the future.

As General Manager of TCI, the meeting with the finnish Minister of Economy previous to the conference; the natural “pass the batton” between presidents, both good friends highly committed with TCI, Juanma and Alberto, and mostly the Strategic Meeting after the conference, where we could realize that a new TCI is emerging with great potential (we will work hard to make it grow).

I am not sure if this is a top moment, but I still remember the cold air from Jyväskylä in my face and hands when crossing the bridge to Paviljonki over the railways. And the dancing at the City Theater, thank you Markku.

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MISCELLANEOUS


Dear friends,Public private partnership has taken a centre stage in governments and businesses efforts worldwide to compete and prosper in today’s world. The increasing challenges and rising regional and global changes create the need for a more targeted and constantly re-adjusted approach for developing the clusters and re-positioning them to be resilient to those disruptive changes. We live in a rapidly changing world and economies around the world experience constant disruptions. We already witnessed how supply chains extend and expand and more than ever the competitors and collaborators are now often one and the same whether on national or international scene. And this is due to a paradigm shift in the competitiveness.

Dubai’s economy is strongly specialized around clusters. Adopted in early 90’s the development strategies of Dubai that clearly promoted cluster development had proved to be the major precondition for Dubai’s rising position in areas such as financial, logistics, real estate and construction, tourism and others. These clusters in return increasingly grew internationally competitive and led to the rising of other clusters such as health, media and education. The Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 clearly stipulates the further development of global growth clusters in Dubai. Therefore, clusters and cluster development remain high in our agenda as they increasingly provide conditions for productivity growth, innovation, specialized labor and strong externalities.

However, changes are happening and the regional specializations that are provided by clusters, built up over decades in many regions of the world, are transforming rapidly. Cluster development in Dubai, therefore, has arrived at a point where there is a need to elaborate more on the nature of collaboration between cluster stakeholders in order to make the transition of Dubai into the new stage of competitiveness – an innovation and high skilled driven economy.

Early this year, the Dubai Competitiveness Council has launched the Dubai Cluster Assessment Project that came up with the first report on the Financial, Logistics, Construction/Real Estate and Tourism clusters. Along with series a of policy recommendations on improving the business environment,

Message from Secretary General Hani Al HamliDubai Economic Council

13TH TCI ANNUAL GLOBAL CONFERENCE - DUBAI

enhancing the skill base and innovation, the enhancement of linkages between the cluster stakeholders, both public and private is in the centre of our attention. We have taken the leadership in initiating the facilitation of these linkages by providing with a world class research, knowledge and expertise on these clusters as well as creating platforms for discussions and dialogue between all stakeholders. These platforms also enable us to discuss and exchange the latest trends in cluster-based policies and best-practices. These platforms are also learning cluster networks where we have prominent business and government leaders coming together to discuss and decide on what Dubai should do next in order to capitalize on its success and move into a more innovation driven, higher value added economy, to be specialized, diversified and yet unique in today’s global knowledge based economy. Our goal is not to target only selected clusters but as Professor Michael Porter says “all clusters are good”.

We would like to invite all of you and your colleagues to Dubai next Fall to explore the Dubai clusters where we will also bring prominent business and government leaders to share their unique experience in developing clusters in Dubai of which some have now crossed the national boundaries. You will have the opportunity to explore the unique mechanisms and tools that Dubai constantly invents and re-invents for its successful cluster development and competitiveness.

We look forward to hosting next year the TCI 13th Annual Conference in Dubai and share our experience with you on turning the global changes and challenges into national and regional opportunities.

My warm regards and look forward to seeing you all in Dubai!


MISCELLANEOUS

NEXT TCI EVENTS

15-17 February, Accra, Ghana: 1st TCI Regional Conference in Africa

12-13 March, New Delhi, India: 1st TCI Asia Competitiveness Forum

7-10 April, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: 1st TCI World Conference on Tourism Clusters

June, Tbc: 5CLAC -5th TCI Latin American Conference

7-11 November, Dubai, UAE: 13th TCI Annual Global Conference

APPOINTMENT NEWS

New TCI PresidentTCI Director Alberto Pezzi is the new president of the TCI network. He is also the Director of the Analysis and Foresight Unit at the Observatory of Industrial Foresight of the Department of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise of the Catalan Government.

New TCI DirectorsRauli Sorvari, Regional Council of Central Finland

H.E. Hani Al Hamli, Dubai Competitiveness Council

Dr. Amit Kapoor, Institute for Competitiveness India.

JUST MARRIED - NEW TCI WORKING GROUPS

TCI Gender and Economic Growth InitiativeThe aim of the TCI Gender and Economic Growth Initiative is to change a perceived gender/diversity/equality problem to a competitive advantage, by indentifying opportunities and collecting good practices and proven methods on gender equality as a driver for economic growth. The goal is to produce a document, which will be presented and discussed at a follow-up workshop at TCI Annual Conference 2010.

Global ICT Cluster Managers GroupThe aim of this initiative is to create a long-term sustainable ICT Cluster Manager Community for sharing experience and generating benefits for ICT clusters and their members. In its first year, the group is already planning to organise an ICT Match-Making event at the TCI Annual Conference Dubai 2010.

Cluster Finance Working GroupIn a global economic environment presaging tighter access to finance and more limited economic grow, cluster finance related topics are gaining relevance in cluster development. The Cluster Finance Working group ambitions to develop recommendations and to present usable solutions in the field that will be distributed through TCI and presented during TCI Annual Global Conferences.


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The most interesting element of the conference for me was to hear from cluster “gurus” the fact that it’s all about people!

I would have loved listening to Finnish business leaders’ stories; if clusters have added value to their businesses and made them more competitive. Editors: So would have we and oh boy did we try to get them! As we recognized during the week, it was a shame we didn’t have many representatives from the business world. But they are hard men and women to reach.

I thought the standard of speakers was high. It is not only what they say, it is how they say it.

The world cafe was a new experience for me and was excellent. I’d be interested in a summary of the points made on the tablecloths, although the reporting at the end on video was good. We hope you have the main points of the world café from our summary in this report! See page 26-27.

The conference was the best so far that I have attended!

Not all workshops were of the same size. Maybe there were too many? Not sure. We received many good suggestions for cases that could be presented as well as some wishes for workshop themes. As a result, we decided to split them to several workshops. We increased the amount of the workshops also to ensure the smaller group sizes to make the discussions and the atmosphere more relaxed.

The Kalevala night would have been excellent if it had been warmer. Most of us were unable to show off our traditional costumes because we had to keep on the over coats. The evening programme was success because of you great people, you created the atmosphere! And the cold… unfortunately we weren’t powerful enough to change the weather, but we sure tried…! :)

My personal self-confidence has increased, as I found that either everyone was grappling with the same issues we were, or that we were much better off in many ways.

Interesting process, but I think the wrong context. TCI conferences are not about personal development, but simply to network. But I had a very good time, anyway. Thanks for your comment. We would like to see every conference as a personal/professional learning experience, and for you networking was obviously one of the goals you set for yourself.

It was hard to get an overview of the whole conference program. Too much flash animations and fancy stuff. You couldn’t print a simple overview. According to the feedback we got, many agree with you, yet there is also a group of people who enjoyed the new way of presenting the program. We think it’s just more or less a subjective matter, some like and some don’t.

We hope the latter group found the way of getting the information about the program anyway!

I think the lounge area could have been used more and the information on the discussion topics could have been promoted more during the conference. We agree with you on this. Many were not familiar with these new elements of the conference so we should have informed more about those also on the spot.

I got a lot of support on what I had learned earlier - but in a different package. Ethics, trust, passion, talented people - and of course cooperation - are those keywords I picked up. As well as the thought of competing and cooperating at the same time.

This was my 12th conference, and thanks for lifting the TCI conference to a new level! Thank you! We on our turn want to challenge the hosts of Dubai to lift the next TCI conference to yet another level!

PIECE OF YOUR MINDWhat you thought of the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference



One month after TCI: Sleepless nights and bouncing ideas! November 17, 2009

“I have to sleep over it”, is a phrase we often use after getting overwhelmened by many new impressions, thoughts, or ideas. 4 weeks after the TCI Conference I slept more than once over it and still like to remember myself back. Some of the articles reflect my impressions from the Conference. If I would have to select one final overall statement then it would be the following: “Critical success factors of a Conference with more than 350 experts on innovation are not mainly related to the topics that are selected but to the atmosphere and facilitation corridor that is provided for a fruitful and outcome oriented discussion between experienced participants!”

The real new insights during conferences are less so coming out from presentations themselves but from some ideas they are able to set free within the listeners mind. The exchange on these ideas and impressions can be promoted through a professional facilitation of communication. In that way this conference was much more interactive and fruitful than earlier ones I participated in. I discovered new forms of facilitation, interaction and exchange between practitioniers.

If I would have to select one of my main learnings during the conference then it would be the following:“We will have to reflect more about how we can facilitate communication and competition between business and institutional networks with the end to promote competitiveness. Cooperation in cluster promotion is just a means to this end!”

The whole cluster and innovation system discussion is finally about cooperation and competition. On the one hand several TCI inputs and discussions provided interesting contributions on how to improve cooperation, how to get a deeper understanding about different mindsets, and about the importance to consider the change of mental models in our daily work. There is a need to understand better how we approach different human beings with different interests and backgrunds. What are more frutful ways to encourage a implementation-driven cooperation between businesses and relevant support institutions ?, is one of the key questions we will have to find more answers on.

On the other hand a deeper understanding of how to promote implementation- and demand-driven cooperation is just beginning. Cluster and innovation promotion it is not reached only through network facilitation,

or only through understanding the critical human and institutional factors of cooperation. It is also about understanding and promoting competition!

The promotion of clusters and innovation systems have the objective to increase the competitiveness of a certain territory. And competitiveness is very much about understanding market failures, government failures as well as network failures that hinder competitiveness. It also involves a deeper understanding of the market forces, about the demand conditions and how existing and future businesses are challenged to react on these changing market circumstances in a more effective and successful way. Actually this topic of competitiveness and its element of competition was rarely tackled during the TCI Conference. Nonetheless it is an essential one in times of globalisation.

A professional management of such processes through practitioners, policy makers, consultants and businesses requires a competency in cluster facilitation that goes beyond network management but that is able to promote a reflection in businesses and support institutions of how to improve competitiveness along very concrete activities and learning loops.

Not only me but many practitioners and policy makers are coming every year to the TCI Conference to learn something new. Accordingly the title in Finland was “Learning Clusters”. Maybe one of the next TCI titles could be “lessons learnt for the future”, or “demand-driven clusters and networks: success and failure criteria”, or “Cluster facilitation vs cluster management: what do we need to change?” This would then encourage a reflection about market-, government and network failures we have experienced during the last decade as well as about our own role in cluster and business promotion. It would also force us to have a deeper look again into real practical examples that are closer to business reality.

I like to remember myself back to the Conference in Finland because I did meet several very motivated and committed persons with whom I would like to stay in contact. During the daily routine of our work the development of new ideas and the motvation to try things differently often gets insufficient attention. The TCI Conference is a place where this room is provided. Although I had several nights to reflect about my impressions, there are still several ideas that are bouncing around in my head. And that´s gerat!

To the organizers and the TCI team: Thanks for the left bouncing ideas! It was a pleasure being there!

CONCLUSIONS


CONCLUSIONS


CONCLUSIONS

START OF THE JOURNEY New TCI President Alberto Pezzi

It is with immense pleasure that I am addressing you in the opening section of this newsletter as the newly elected President. I accept this responsibility with deep humbleness but also with greater awareness than that of the majority of those who are reading these lines, that TCI is a great project totally built with a bottom-up approach. TCI is evidence that good ideas and knowledgeable people can jointly become a strong driver for making things happen. TCI is also in itself proof that the cluster approach works, that “coopetition” exists and works, and that there is always room for innovation and good projects even in turbulent times and a crisis scenario.

Another TCI global conference has come to an end and the stimulating and innovative environment we have been exposed to over the last week in Jyväskylä is challenging us when trying to apply some of this fresh new thinking to our day-to-day jobs. This is both encouraging and frustrating, but the perseverance that will be required of us will certainly be rewarded.

Certainly, the challenges that cluster practitioners, regional development policy makers and companies are facing today are extremely serious but TCI conferences always demonstrate that we are not alone, that there are always new things to be learnt, that an alternative approach is always possible and that knowledge and networking are two powerful and inexpensive tools for fostering the competitiveness of our regions.

With this in mind, I therefore start a new journey as the new TCI President knowing that I will not be alone. Our clear aim is to make this organization grow as a wider network of cluster practitioners with probably the biggest repository of tacit knowledge on cluster development worldwide. How to tap and use it is our great challenge.


CONCLUSIONS

Settings and objective – What? The starting point of the conference was adapting to the new competitiveness scenario and the general focus has been on clusters as the drivers of economic development. One of the core issues of discussion during the week was the unpredictability of different elements of competitiveness and that one of the core issues today is the management of change in the operating environment. However, even more important than the macro level of economy and society, the focus of the conference discussions was much in the management, performance and creativity with small, practical and grassroots level activities. Things are local and global at the same time, but most problems materialize in the everyday work.

In times of crisis, it is critical that the actions planned and performed are aimed at the same direction. This is an obvious challenge for policy-makers, but done correctly, different policies enable the development, growth and success of businesses. As was pointed out by many, clusters can provide a survival kit for the companies and stakeholders involved, even the signal to redirect the course and find new opportunities.

Process and performance – How?We talked about creating World Class excellence in clusters and regions. But how to do it in practice, what are the processes to make this happen? These are some of the answers you gave in the conference: In general: - Create a culture of enriching interaction – Collaboration is more a

mindset than a mechanism- Find a way to involve big corporations and their global reach- Learn and innovate fast - try a lot of stuff, make mistakes, but

learn from them!- Be cunning in integrating the goals of different stakeholders- Be sensitive in the strategy formation and redirection- Make sure your cluster development is a process, not a project

steered by a certain funding available

In some of the key processes in clusters: - Vision and leadership: Cluster leadership is leading with a

vision, recreating the joint vision, the importance of creating trust, open culture and making sure all go towards the same direction.

- Show me the money: It’s all about creating added value, reaching for both the low-hanging fruit and the moon at the same time. All stakeholders need to know their place in the value-creation schema

- Global interaction and learning in clusters: Creativity rules, but ideas are nowadays less likely made by only the Einsteins in the world – teams and interaction are the key to success. Leap forward by creating learning communities.

- Creativity and sustainable competitiveness: Make sure you know what your elements of sustainable competitiveness are, think which are the most critical ones and define how to secure them in times of change.

- Clusters in a new world: Make sure your Anchovy Dynamo is oiled to the max to pick up new signals coming from whichever end of the hourglass.

Michael E. Porter’s renowned work analyses regional economies and the triple helix approach is mostly about the roles and cooperation schemes of innovation and competitiveness creation. How about moving even more closely looking at the process and steps of competitiveness creation itself?

How do you position yourself on the axes of these different processes? Are all these corners in place in your cluster?

From Finland with loveMadeline Smith took an example from one of the most known examples of Finnish literature, the Moomins: The Moomin stories concern several eccentric and oddly-shaped characters, they were bohemian, lived close to nature and were very tolerant towards diversity. The characters’ differences are accepted and their needs are accommodated. Like she put it, this is perhaps the culture and mindset we need to find in our networks, in our clusters, in the TCI network and in other global communities.

As the holiday season is approaching and many extend wishes and gifts to each other, we wish that you keep the new ideas you got alive – don’t let the real world intervene with your good intentions.

See you in Dubai!

ANATOMY OF A LEARNING CLUSTER Wisdom of 350 international experts on competitiveness


PARTICIPANTS

Abreu,Maria Victoria,National Competitiveness Council,Dominican Republic Abugessaisa,Imad,Future Position X,SwedenAbulfotuh,Ms. Dalia,Egyptian National Competitiveness Council,EgyptAccaro,Louis,Tanzania Private Sector Foundaion,Tanzania, United Republic ofAfrikian,Gayane,Dubai economic Council,United Arab EmiratesAgostini,Julio Cezar,SEBRAE,BrazilAhola,Pirjo,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandAhonen,Laura,City of Jyväskylä,FinlandAhonen,Mikko,Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd. ,FinlandAhtola-Marks,Raija-Leena,Culminatum Innovation - Living Business Cluster Programme,FinlandAkhtar,Hina,JAAG BROADCASTING SYSTEMS (PVT) LTD.,PakistanAl Aidarous,Noor,Dubai Economic Council,United Arab EmiratesAl Hamli,Hani,Dubai Economic Council,United Arab EmiratesAl Marri,Butti,Dubai Economic Council,United Arab EmiratesAlvarez,Carlos,Chilean Economic Development Agency,ChileAndersen,Lise,University of Southern Denmark,DenmarkAndersson,Ewa,Tillväxtverket,SwedenAndersson ,Markku,City of Jyväskylä,FinlandAranguren,Mari Jose,Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness,SpainAstrup Jørgensen,Christina,University of Southern Denmark,DenmarkAxelsson,Helene,DalaBIT,SwedenBackman,Gunnar,OpenEye,SwedenBashir,Amjad,Competitiveness Support Fund,PakistanBeer,Christoph,tcbe.ch - ICT Cluster Bern, Switzerland / mundi consulting ag,SwitzerlandBellika,Tor-Arne,ICT Grenland,NorwayBersier,Jacques P.,HES-SO//Fribourg - PST-FR,SwitzerlandBetz,Dilara,MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH,GermanyBialic-Davendra,Magdalena Lucyna,Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Faculty of Management and Economics,Czech RepublicBiteniece,Zane,Investment and development agency of Latvia,LatviaBjurulf,Staffan,Region Värmland,SwedenBlomqvist,Irina,Culminatum Innovation Oy Ltd,FinlandBode,Alexander,Darmstadt University of Technology,GermanyBonnet,Pierre,Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon,FranceBorchardt,Andreas,Brandenburg Economic Development Board,GermanyBoronenko,Vera,University of Daugavpils,LatviaBranzén,Per,The Packaging Arena,Sweden

Breault,Robert,Breault Research Organization,United StatesBrunet,Olivier,european commission,BelgiumBruskova,Pavla,Regional Development Agency,Czech RepublicBurvall,Magnus,Fiber Optic Valley,SwedenByaruhanga,Juliet,THE PRIVATE SECTOR FOUNDATION UGANDA,UgandaCampbell,Michael,South East England Development Agency (SEEDA),United KingdomCapitine,Belarmina,CPI - Investment Promotion Centre,MozambiqueCarvalho,Matheus,SEBRAE-MG,BrazilCasals,Kare,Kainuun Etu Ltd,FinlandCasey,Niall,Invest Northern Ireland,United KingdomChisawillo,Peter,Tanzania Private Sector Foundation,Tanzania, United Republic ofDarscht,Pablo,MIEM - PACPYMES,UruguayDavid,Nelza,INVESTMENT PROMOTION CENTER (CPI),MozambiqueDharmaji,Ramesh,Small Industries Development Bank Of India,IndiaDixon ,Patrick,Global Change Ltd. ,United KingdomDuch,Emiliano,The Cluster Competitiveness Group, SA,SpainDugre,Vincent,Quebec transportation equipment cluster,CanadaEetgerink,Frank,Regional Development Agency East Netherlands,NetherlandsElbe,Jörgen,Univerity of Dalarna,SwedenEmmoth,Anna,Dalarna University,SwedenEngholm,Maria,,SwedenEnright,Michael,University of Hong Kong / Enright, Scott & Associates,Hong KongErnström,Magnus,Region Gävleborg,SwedenEspina,Javier,Goverment,ArgentinaEsteban,Juan Manuel,SPRI - Basque Government,SpainFantoni,Margarida,SEBRAE-MG,BrazilFernando,Alvarez Montalvo,Sace Desarrollos Tecnológicos, S.L.,SpainFernvall,Lars,VINNOVA,SwedenFerràs,Xavier,CIDEM,SpainFerreres,Luis,TCI Network - The Competitiveness Institute,SpanFfowcs-Williams,Ifor,Cluster Navigators Limited,New ZealandFinsrud,Henrik,Work Research Institute,NorwayFolladal,Per Anders,SIVA SF,NorwayFreije,Inmaculada,Basque Government - Department of Industry,SpainFreudenthaler,Walter,ecoplus. The Business Agency of Lower Austria Ltd.,AustriaFridman,Ragnar,Norrköping Science Park,SwedenFriz,Alexandra,MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH,GermanyFurre,Harald,Oxford Research AS,NorwayGadd,Bruce,New Zealand Trade and Enterprise,ItalyGarcía Roja,Rafael,UNIVERSIDAD DE CÁDIZ,Spain

Goicolea,Juan Ignacio,Basque Government - Department of Industry,SpainGranat Thorslund,Jennie,Vinnova,SwedenGraversen,Andreas Blohm,FORA,DenmarkGustafsson,Henna,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company Jykes Ltd,FinlandGwynne-Evans ,Nigel,Economic Development & Tourism ,South AfricaGyulai,Tamas,Green Technology Development Cluster,HungaryHaasis,Klaus,MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH,GermanyHagenauer,Simone,ecoplus. The Business Agency of Lower Austria Ltd.,AustriaHansen,Eric Rolf,Economic Transformations Group,United StatesHarju,Carita,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company,FinlandHausner,Ulrich,WTSH GmbH,GermanyHeikkinen,Veli-Pekka,Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd.,FinlandHeikkinen ,Satu,City of Jyväskylä,FinlandHiguita Palacio,Juan Manuel,Medellin’s City Hall,ColombiaHill,Justin,department of innovation industry science research,AustraliaHimanen,Pekka,HIIT,FinlandHindrum,Kerstin,Swedish Marine Technology Forum,SwedenHumala,Elina,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company,FinlandHuss,Catrin,Region Värmland,SwedenHynninen,Sanna-Mari,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandHärkönen,Matti,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandHøyerby,Leif Guldborg,AluCluster,DenmarkIikkanen ,Päivi,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandIsmalina,Poppy,Research School, SOM, University of Groningen and Fac.Econ.Business, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia,NetherlandsJamison,Linda,Invest Northern Ireland,United KingdomJanhonen,Minna,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandJaniszewski,Lech,The Marshal’s Office of the Swietokrzyskie Region,PolandJas,Mariusz,Marshal’s Office of the Lodz Region,PolandJensen,Lars Horsholt,BrainsBusiness - ICT North Denmark,DenmarkJohansson,Cecilia,VINNOVA,SwedenJohnston,Richard,Invest Northern Ireland,United KingdomJuurinen,Anna-Liisa,Jämsek Oy - Jämsä Region Development Company,FinlandJyrki,Haataja,Kainuunmaakunta kuntayhtymä, The joint authority of Kainuu Region,FinlandJämsén,Risto,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company,FinlandJönsson-Brydsten,Monika,Region Dalarna,SwedenKafafy,Dina,Egyptian National Competitiveness Council,Egypt


Kanitpong,Tatchawan,Graduate School of Business Administration (NIDA),ThailandKaperl-Sniowska,Ewa,MARSHAL`S OFFICE,PolandKapoor,Amit,Institute for Competitiveness,IndiaKardemark,Gunnel,Future Position X,SwedenKarhatsu,Eija,State Provincial Office of Southern Finland,FinlandKauhanen,Pirjo,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium,FinlandKekkonen,Neo,Student,FinlandKettunen,Mikko,Kainuun Etu Oy,FinlandKettunen,Jaana,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandKiese,Matthias,University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, School of Business,SwitzerlandKinnunen,Eeva,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandKobro,Lars Ueland,Telemark Reaserch Institute,NorwayKoiranen,Matti,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandKoivumäki,Eeva-Liisa,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company Jykes Ltd.,FinlandKorchagina,Nataliya,Astrakhan State University,Russian FederationKorhonen,Ismo,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd. ,FinlandKorhonen,Pirkko,City of Jyväskylä,FinlandKorhonen,Hannu,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandKorpi,Anna,EduCluster Finland,FinlandKoskinen,Ari,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandKoskinen,Tiia,Hermia,FinlandKovanen,Matti,CopperSky Ltd. ,FinlandKrstanovic,Boris,The Association of Croatian ICT Clusters - cro.ict,CroatiaKumar,Dilip R.V.,SIDBI Venture Capital Limited,IndiaKutinlahti,Pirjo,Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy,FinlandKärki,Noora,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandLahti,Merja,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandLaine,Hilkka,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandLall,Ashish,Asia Competitiveness Insitute, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,SingaporeLampe,Pascal,NIRO e. V.,GermanyLanden,Laila,City of Jyväskylä,FinlandLangkilde,Lotte,University of Southern Denmark,DenmarkLapikataja,Titta,Student,FinlandLappeteläinen ,Taija,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company,FinlandLarrea,Miren,Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness,SpainLarsson,Fredrik,Future Position X,SwedenLarsson,Lars-Gunnar,VINNOVA,SwedenLatvala,Eila,JAMK University of Applied Sciences / School of Health and Social Studies,Finland

Laxell,Patrik,Synocus Oy,FinlandLehtinen,Tiia,Business Arena Ltd. ,FinlandLema,Juliana,Prime Minister’s Office,Tanzania, United Republic ofLempinen,Jyrki,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandLeveque,Audrey,LENTIC,BelgiumLill,Michael,IHK Zetis GmbH,GermanyLind,Peter,Trekantområdet Danmark,DenmarkLindfors,Kirsi,Hermia Ltd.,FinlandLindqvist,Göran,Center for Strategy and Competitiveness, Stockholm School of Economics,SwedenLindqvist,Maria,Tillväxtverket,SwedenLinnarsson,Kajsa,OpenGlobal Inc,United StatesLitzel,Nicole,IAB Institute for Employment Research,GermanyLlorens-Urrutia,Juan-Luis,LKS S.Coop.,SpainLoikkanen,Teemu,Cursor Oy,FinlandLommi,Taina,State Provincial Office of Sourhern Finland,FinlandLund,Jens Erik,BSR InnoNet, Nordic Innovation Centre,NorwayLundstrom,Mikael,Compare,SwedenLy Muñoz,Doris,Agencia Regional Desarrollo Productivo (Talca),ChileLämsä,Tero,HUMAK University of applied sciences,FinlandMajò,Anna,22@Barcelona,SpainMalin ,Aino,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandMalmkvist,Ulrika,FindIT,SwedenMaltamo,Pekka,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandMark,Mccord,Deloitte Consulting LLP,CyprusMarkkanen ,Mikko,Business Arena Ltd. ,FinlandMartí,Joan,ACCIÓ CIDEM|COPCA,SpainMashiane,Tswaledi,the dti,South AfricaMassari,Ilaria,Reindustria Cremona Development Agency - Catholic University of Piacenza,ItalyMathur,Ajeet Narain,Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad,IndiaMatinaro,Pekka,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd. ,FinlandMattila,Sari,,IndiaMattsson,Jutta,Reporter,FinlandMboya,John,Prime Minister’s Office,Tanzania, United Republic ofMckeown,Bernard,Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment,United KingdomMeijide,Alberto,UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA,SpainMelle,Denis,ESC BRETAGNE BREST,FranceMeuronen,Teija,Lappeenranta Innovation Ltd. ,FinlandMichelsen,Øyvind,Kunnskapsbyen Lillestrøm,NorwayMikkonen,Anita,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandMinello,Alessandro,CA’ FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE,Italy

Mitra,Sumit,University of Wollongong in Dubai,United Arab EmiratesMittal,Manoj,small industries development bank of india,IndiaMokadem,Fakr-Eddine,Prime Minster Office ( Dubai ),United Arab EmiratesMonclus,Sonia,Barcelona Design Innovation Cluster,SpainMoreno,Jaime,National Competitiveness Council,Dominican RepublicMosai,Sello Ben,Productivitysa,South AfricaMsuya,Flower,Zanzibar Seaweed Cluster Initiative,Tanzania, United Republic ofMubashir,Ellora,Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD), S.M. Sehgal Foundation,IndiaMukherjee,Kaushik,KARNATAKA STATE FINANCIAL CORPORATION,IndiaMusoke,Ruth Biyinzika,PRIVATE SECTOR FOUNDATION UGANDA,UgandaMutambi,Joshua,Department of Industry and Technology,UgandaMutka,Ulla,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandMäkeläinen,Petteri,,FinlandMäkinen,Susanna,Reporter,FinlandMänttäri,Aki,TechVilla,FinlandMøller,Kim,Oxford Research A/S,DenmarkNadifi,Samy,IBI International,United StatesNaidoo,Vik,Deakin University and Enterprise Connect,AustraliaNash,John,Iowa State University,United StatesNawangwe,Barnabas,Makerere University,UgandaNiemelä,Juha S,T&E Centre for Central Finland,FinlandNikku,Pirjo,Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd. ,FinlandNikola,Eeva,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandNilsson,Agnetha,Region Värmland,SwedenNissilä,Teuvo,Kainuun Etu,FinlandNorrström,Lena,Triple Steelix,SwedenNorvapalo,Kare,JAMK University of Applied Sciences / School of Health and Social Studies,FinlandNyberg,Ann-Christin,Luleå University of Technology & Stockholm University,SwedenNygård Skalman,Karin,VINNOVA,SwedenO’Connor,Fergal,University College Cork,IrelandOdhe,Janerik,Steel&Engineering,SwedenOiarbide,Leire,TCI Network - The Competitiveness Institute,SpainOlin ,Kalevi,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandOsterbo,Emma,NCE Raufoss /SINTEF Raufoss Manufacturing,NorwayOswald,Philipp,MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH,GermanyOtala,Leenamaija,CICERO Learning,FinlandPaananen,Markku,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandPaatola,Matti,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd. ,FinlandPadilha,Luiz Marcelo,SEBRAE,Brazil

PARTICIPANTS


Pajala ,Leena,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandPantalos,Nikos,European Commission / DG Entr,BelgiumPapell,Marc,Cluster Development,SpainPartanen,Raija,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandPatrikainen,Olli,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd. ,FinlandPekkala,Jouni,Seinäjoki Region Business Service Center,FinlandPekkala ,Päivi,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandPellinen,Aimo,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandPeltomaa,Jyrki,Josek Oy,FinlandPerkovic,Ivan,South East England Development Agency,United KingdomPersson,Olle,Region Gavleborg,SwedenPeräaho,Pirjo,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandPerälä,Hannu,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandPeterkova,Lenka,CzechInvest,Czech RepublicPetershagen,Eivind,Innovation Norway,NorwayPezzi,Alberto,ACC1O-Generalitat de Catalunya,SpainPienonen,Toni,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandPislaru,Dragos,GEA Strategy & Consulting SA,RomaniaPiza Cossio,Paola Andrea,Fundación Medellín Convention & Visitors Bureau,ColombiaPriest,Susan,South East England Development Agency (SEEDA),United KingdomProchazka,Stepan,CzechInvest,Czech RepublicPudane,Evija,Investment and Development Agency of Latvia,LatviaPulgarin Sierra,John Fredy,CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF MEDELLIN FOR ANTIOQUIA,ColombiaPäivänen ,Veli-Pekka,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandQuinn,Mette,European Commission / DG Entr,BelgiumRaatikainen,Niku ,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandRainio,Timo,Hermia Oy,FinlandRamis,Lluis,Cluster Development, S.L.,SpainRamos Vaca,Alonso,Desarrollo Económico del Estado de Chihuahua A.C.,MexicoRaulo,Miikka,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandRautiainen,Nina,Central Finland Chamber of Commerce,FinlandReid,Neil,UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO,United StatesRissanen,Riitta,Savonia University of Applied Sciences,FinlandRitsilä ,Jari,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandRoelofsen,Julia,InnoPraxis International Ltd.,FinlandRwakasisi,Joyce,MINISTRY OF FINANCE,Uganda

Rweikiza,Evans,Tanzania Private Sector Foundation,Tanzania, United Republic ofRyhänen,Frank ,Culminatum Ltd. ,FinlandSagrario,Inés,,SpainSallinen,Aino,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandSalvador Villamar,Mónica,Development Regional Agency,ChileSalvatierra,Guillermo,Provincial Agricultural Services Program,ArgentinaSambua,Sosthenes,TPSF-Business Development Gateway,Tanzania, United Republic ofSanchez Adell,Raul,22@Barcelona,SpainSandred,Jan,VINNOVA,SwedenSandvik,Rolf André,SIVA SF,NorwaySautter,Björn,Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum,GermanySchmid,Bernhard,Vienna Business Agency / VITE,AustriaSeel,Lucia,Clusterland Upper Austria,AustriaSenneseth,Knut,Innovation Norway,NorwaySilvennoinen ,Leena,Culminatum Ltd. ,FinlandSingh,Harinder Jeet,Confederation of Indian Industry,IndiaSingh,Indira,MNDMF - Executive Projects Office,CanadaSjögren,Dan,VINNOVA,SwedenSmith ,Madeline,Ekos Ltd. ,United KingdomSomkuti,Mátyás,Hungarian Pole Program Office,HungarySoo,Kuo Tong,Ministry of Trade and Industry,SingaporeSorvari,Rauli,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandSoy,Antoni,,SpainSteinbock ,Dan,ICA,United StatesStürzebecher,Daniel,MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH,GermanySubira,Antoni,IESE, University of Navarra,SpainSuslaviciute,Erna,Ministry of Economy of Lithuania,LithuaniaSvensson,Klas,Tillväxtverket - Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth,SwedenSvensson,Marita,Fiber Optic Valley,SwedenSvensson,Lennart,Region Skåne,SwedenSzechenyi,Nicholas,Europa InterCluster,FranceSölvell,Örjan,Center for Strategy and Competitiveness,SwedenTaleb,Ms. Nehal,Egyptian National Competitiveness Council,EgyptTalmon L’Armée,Tobias,Darmstadt University of Technology,GermanyTarvainen,Elise,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandTarvainen,Marianna,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandTerpager,Pouline,Nordic Council of Ministers,DenmarkTervonen,Päivi,Jyväskylä Regional Development Company,FinlandTervonen ,Jussi,Unelmania / Team Academy,FinlandTeräs,Jukka,Norrum Ltd. ,Finland

Thorburn,Karen,Hermia,FinlandTidona,Christian,BioRN Cluster Management GmbH,GermanyTimonen,Laura,South Karelian Institute, Lappeenranta University of Technology,FinlandToivanen ,Erkki,Journalist,United KingdomTokila ,Anu,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandToni,Sulameri,Hermia Oy,FinlandTopdar,Asish,Small Industries Development Bank of India,IndiaTotsis,Nikolaos,CHAMBER OF ARCADIA,GreeceTuma,Ruth,GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA,UgandaTuominen,Rea,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandTyagi,Ravi,Small Industries Development Bank of India,IndiaUrpilainen,Leo,Regional Council of Central Finland,FinlandWaalen,Ragnar,SIVA sf.,NorwayWaelbroeck-Rocha,Elisabeth,BIPE,FranceWaeltring,Frank,mesopartner,GermanyWahlgrén,Asta,JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Business and Services Management,FinlandValdenebro,Patricia,TCI Network - The Competitiveness Institute,SpainWalker,Richard David,Economic Development Australia,AustraliaValle,Antti,Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy,FinlandVenkata Durga Nageswara Rao,Sonti,Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay,IndiaWictorsson,Carola,Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd,FinlandWidgren,Petri,Business Arena Ltd. ,FinlandVierne,Valentine,Brandenburg Economic Development Board,GermanyVihinen,Eeva-Liisa,Humap Ltd.,FinlandVilkkilä,Tiina,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandVilkuna,Kyösti,Student,FinlandWilliams,Mats,The Paper Province,SwedenVilppola,Jukka,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium,FinlandVirtanen,Esko,,FinlandWise,Emily,Research Policy Institute, Lund University and IEC,Sweden Vogelmann,Helene,VINNOVA,SwedenVolpini,Lina,SEBRAE-MG,BrazilVos,Marita,University of Jyvaskyla,FinlandVuori ,Katja,JAMK University of Applied Sciences,FinlandVuorinen,Raimo,University of Jyväskylä,FinlandVäisänen,Satu,Jyväskylä Educational Consortium ,FinlandVäisänen,Vilma,Partus Ltd. ,FinlandYlimartimo,Anneli,JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Technology,FinlandZingmark,Anna,VINNOVA,SwedenZiraba,Yasin Naku,Makerere University (ISCP-U),UgandaÄngsback,Åsa,Region Dalarna,Sweden

PARTICIPANTS


Regional MeetingsAsiaEllora Mubashir, Consultant, Institute of Rural Research & Development: Contributions to Indian Agriculture: Case studies of Proagro and IRRADDilip Kumar, SIDBI Venture Capital Limited, India: Venture Funding for Innovative of Technology oriented Businesses Manoj Mittal, DGM, SIDBI: Agglomeration and deglomeration factors for cluster development – Study of select clusters Ramesh Dharma, GM, SIDBI Foundation for Risk Capital & Ravi Tyagi, DGM, SIDBI Foundation for Risk Capital: Innovation within Asian EnterpriseKaushik Mukherjee, Managing Director, Karnataka State Financial Corporation: Special Economic Zones in IndiaDr. Amit Kapoor, Institute for Competitiveness: Competitiveness of Cities and States in IndiaHarinder Jeet Singh, CII, India: SME Clusters in Asia

South East AsiaDr. Tatchawan Kanitpong, Assistant Professor, NIDA Business School, Thailand: The automobile cluster and its role in Thailand’s competitivenessMr. Kuo Tung Soo, Senior Assistant Director, Economics and Strategy Division, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore: Competitiveness of SingaporeDr. Ashish Lall, Associate Professor, Asia Competitiveness Institute, LKY School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore: The IT-enabled Services Cluster in the Philippines

Middle EastGayane Afrikian, Director, Dubai Competitiveness Council: Clusters and Dubai’s Competitiveness Latin AmericaAlonso Ramos Vaca: Presentation of the Latin American Cluster Network (RedLAC) Maria Victoria Abreu Malla, Technical Deputy Director - National Competitiveness Council- Dominican Republic: Tourism Clusters in the Dominican Republic: Lessons Learned Julio Agostini, Director of Operations - Sebrae-PR - Curitiba, Paraná – Brazil: Dealing with regional cluster realities in BrazilPablo Darscht, Director of PACPYMES, Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy, Uruguay: Fostering clusters in Uruguay: A systemic approachDoris Ly Muñoz, Innovation Officer -Maule Regional Development Agency, Chile & Marynella Salvador, Executive Director - Atacama Regional Development Agency, Chile: Contrasting clustering experiences in two regions of Chile

AfricaPeter Chisawillo: Update on PACF Executive Committee Activities since Cape Town Briefing on Organisation of PACF General Assembly in December 2009 Joshua Mutambi: Briefing on Institutionalisation of the Cluster Concept in UgandaPeter Chisawillo: The World Bank Competitiveness Project in Tanzania and the Cluster concept

Baltic Sea RegionTheme 1: Fact based innovation and cluster activities, Andreas Graversen, FORA

Theme 2: From BSR InnoNet to Programme for Innovation, Clusters and SME-Networks, Jens Erik Lund, BSR InnoNet and Helene Vogelmann, VINNOVATheme 3: Reflections on open frameworks for innovation activities, Arne Eriksson, AEK-Consult and Henrik Hultin, synocus group

Workshops1. Vision and leadership of clustersFrank Eetgerink, Oost NV, Netherlands: Food Valley, the next stepLinda Jamison, Invest NI, UK: Case Study- Leadership in the sustainable energy cluster and practical tools to support the evolution of commercial driven networksPatrik Laxell, Synocus Oy, Finland: Creative design processes in cluster settingsBjoern Sautter, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Germany: Strategic inter-cluster collaboration in the globalising knowledge economyJan Sandred, Gunnar Backman, VINNOVA, Sweden and John Nash, Iowa State University, USA: Impact Logic Assessment – How to significantly shorten time-to-impact and create tangible change through a clusterSimone Hagenauer, ecoplus. Niederösterreichs Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH, Austria: Cluster Manager Qualification for Internationalisation of Clusters Joan Marti, ACC1Ó, SpainKajsa Linnarsson, Open Global, USAMikko Ahonen, Jyväskylä Innovation Ltd. , Finland

2. Show me the money!JanErik Odhe, Mikael Lundström, Mats Williams, Steel & Engineering/Compare/The Paper Province, Sweden: Business leverages by cooperationMarc Papell, Cluster Development, Spain: Spanish Software Business Mobility ClusterHarinder Jeet Singh, CII-LM Thapar Centre for competitiveness for SMEs, India: Enhancing competitiveness of SMEs - Cluster ApproachMagnus Ernström, Region Gävleborg, Sweden: Implementing innovations in the public sector.Pascal Lampe, NIRO e. V, Germany: NIRO - the dynamic difference - fast track for value-added to businessTCI World Cluster Café: Internationalisation of Clusters and the future of Cluster networksKlaus Haasis, CEO MFG Baden-Württemberg/TCI German Contact PointMichael Lill, CEO IHK Zetis GmbHElina Humala, Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd: How to help local actors see the global opportunities?Christoph Beer, ICT Cluster Bern, Lucia Seel, Clusterland Oberösterreich, Pascal Lampe, CEO Network Industry Ruhr East Samy Nadifi, IBI International: Quadruple Helix; Cluster Access to FinanceCommentary by Antti Hautamäki, University of Jyväskylä

3. Global interaction and learningMark T. McCord, Economic Development and Growth for Enterprises Project: Community-based tourism and cluster development: Enhancing Competitiveness through Community EmpowermentMarynella Salvador, Development regional Agency: Atacama Chile, Chile and Inés Sagrario, Competitiveness Ltd., Spain: From theory to practice, AquAtacama: reinventing business. Ewa Andersson, Cecilia Johansson, VINNOVA, Sweden: Networks of clusters - a pilot caseAlessandro Minello, University of Venice, Italy: Towards learning clusters? The growth and decline of clusters in Veneto region.

Expertise from all over the world

EXPERTISE


Matti Härkönen, Jyväskylä Educational Consortium and Nina Rautiainen, Central Finland Chamber of Commerce: How learning becomes the leading process of new business? – Learning broker process in Central Finland. Emiliano Duch, IESE Business School, Spain: European Cluster Excellence InitiativeRaimo Vuorinen, University of Jyväskylä: Added value of lifelong guidance in competence development within clusters?

4. Creativity and sustainable competitivenessAnna Majó Crespo, 22@Barcelona, Spain: Clusters development strategies in urban environmentsXavier Ferràs, CIDEM, Spain: Cooperative R+D as a tool to foster emerging clustersMette Quinn, European Commission, Belgium: Creative industries and service clustersPirkko Korhonen, City of Jyväskylä / URBACT Programme: From Creative Clusters to the Creative PlaceAmit Kapoor, Institute for Competitiveness, India: Sustainability and Competitiveness Jörgen Elbe, Destination Dalarna, Sweden: Applying development models across different industries

5. Clusters in a new worldRichard Walker, Economic Development Australia, Australia: Adapting to Climate Change through the development of new green industries.Risto Jämsen, Jyväskylä Regional Development Company, Jykes Ltd., Finland: Customer-oriented service model in restructuring processesWalter Freudenthaler, ecoplus - The Business agency of Lower Austria Ltd., Austria: How cluster initiatives can contribute to energy efficiency and strengthen small scaled regional economyAntoni Soy, Deputy Minister for Industry and Enterprise, Generalitat de Catalunya: New industry in Catalonia and renewal of cluster and industrial policy.

6. Knowledge non-stopLucia Seel, Clusterland Upper Austria, Austria: Developing a new international cooperation platform for cluster organisations and their membersNeil Reid, University of Toledo and the European ProClusters Association, USA: Social Network Analysis - How Can it be Used to Improve the Management of Clusters?Mari Jose Aranguren, Miren Larrea, Orkestra-Instituto Vasco de Competitividad, Spain: Evaluation to envisioning a shared futureIndira Singh, Ministry of Northern Development and Mines and Forestry, Canada: Connecting Clusters: A Canada--Russia Pilot Nicole Litzel, IAB Institute for Employment Research, Germany : The Cluster-Oriented Regional Information System CORIS - adding transparency to a cluster regionJulia Roelofsen, InnoPraxis International Ltd., Finland: New practical approach to using clusters for creating regional innovation system

7. Lessons from the Finnish cluster policyIntroduction of the Finnish Center of Expertise Program, and its evolution as a platform for local and national cluster initiatives. Facilitated by Senior Consultant Patrik Laxell, Synocus Ltd. Ministerial Adviser Pirjo Kutinlahti, Ministry of Employment and the Economy: OSKE –programCompetence Cluster presentations: Juha Miettinen, Ubiquitous Computing Competence Cluster Program, Director Mervi Pitkänen, Maritime Competence Cluster Patrik Laxell, Synocus Ltd.: Lessons learned for cluster policy making and cluster management at local and national level

8. A gender perspective as a mean for cluster developmentThe Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, Ewa Andersson & Monika Jönsson-Brydsten, Innovation Norway, Eivind Petershagen, Vinnova, Jennie Granat Thorslund and Lars-Gunnar Larsson How can strategies for gender equality contribute to growth in clusters. Reflections from an action oriented gender and innovation researcher, Ann-Christin Nyberg, Luleå University of Technology Marita Svensson, Fiber Optic Valley, Emma Østerbø, NCE Raufoss Women’s forum, Kerstin Hindrum, Marine Technology Forum: Design & Product development

EXPERTISE


Documents

Learning Clusters Magazine