Global challenges require better strategic cooperation

The rationale behind the European Strategic Cluster Partnerships is that future global challenges are too big to be shouldered by individual clusters or networks alone. The selected ESCP's will be tasked with supporting the emergence of new value chains across different innovative sectors, supporting SME's in global competition, and offering at large scale innovative solutions to better address societal and environmental challenges such as climate change  and resource efficiency.

The selected partnerships will benefit from preferential services provided by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform and a competitive advantage in forthcoming calls for proposals that aim to promote emerging industries through clusters and networks.

For the member clusters in ICN the new label will be a benefit in terms of collaboration with non-EU countries by participating in cluster matchmaking missions with the EU Commission and DG Enterprise and participation in dedicated promotion of cluster services.

The launch event for ESCP network will take place in Linz Austria on May 16. Stephan Skare Nielsen, Head of ICN, will participate and represent the member clusters in ICN.

ICN: great platform to get in touch with world leading cleantech companies

This study trip was part of the INNOVATION EXPRESS project, which aims to helping Danish companies to identify potential partners and explore more joint project opportunities in Austria. The Danish delegation was a mix of Danish authorities, research institutions, companies and cleantech clusters. ECO WORLD STYRIA utilized its network to facilitate meetings, company visiting programs and arranged B2B matchmaking section during the trip.

Rosa Kliggard Andersen, the secretary chef of Inno-MT is very positiveabout the outcome of the visit and impressed by the opportunities through ICN.  'The reason for choosing to visit Steiermark was for its advanced technology industry. Moreover, the solid fundamental relationships between Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster and Eco World Styria through ICN is also one of the reasons', says Andersen.

Inno-MT has also been to visit the ICN member in Singapore around water technology and is going to South Korea in April to visit the coming ICN member there to understand the opportunities within waste, water and green building sectors.

Korea is a strategic market and the center for green growth in Asian

South Korea has allocated 2 pct. of their national GDP to green growth projects and investments in a five-year plan. The ambition is to be the 7^th largest green economy in the world by 2020. The Danish government and the Korean government have entered into a strategic partnership based on green growth between the two countries. 14 agreements have already been signed and there is already a lot of collaboration going on between stakeholders in the two countries.

Opportunities in the Korean Market

From the 1^st - 5^th of April a Danish delegation will visit Songdo and Seoul in order to identify projects and partners. The delegation will have representatives from Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster, Danish Technologies Institute, DHI Group and Copenhagen Capacity.

The delegation will be engaging with relevant stakeholders, such as Cisco, Gale and Prosco, and governmental agencies in order to achieve knowledge of developing projects in Songdo within areas of waste, water and green buildings. The ICN partner Incheon Technopark has assisted in setting up relevant business meetings and in arranging a conference focusing on environmental technologies in South East Asia.

"We expect to get access to the most attractive partners who are involved in the development process of the Songdo region so we can identify some business opportunities and partnerships for the Danish stakeholders. We see a lot of potentials in Korea for Danish cleantech companies", says Kanval Sheik from Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster.

In the research project, RTI will identify what companies, institutions, and research and development capacity exist in the region, analyze market barriers and opportunities, and determine what specific actions RTCC can take to accelerate the growth of the cleantech economy. One of the world's leading research institutes, RTI provides research and technical services to governments and businesses in more than 75 countries.

Mapping the strength in the region

"The research findings will underpin all of the organization's next steps", said RTCC board member Allen Burchett, senior vice president of ABB Inc. in North America. ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact.

"The Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster got its start from market intelligence that showed this region's strength in the energy sector, especially smart grid," Burchett said.  "This research project will take a deeper dive into the region's clean technology sector, building on what we already know about our unique opportunity to invent, manufacture and sell smart energy, smart water and smart transportation technologies to the world."

Branding the cluster to the world

At the same time, the market and brand development project, led by brand consultant The Stone Agency and creative partner Liaison Design Group, will help RTCC position the region as a global destination for clean technology companies in the areas targeted by its research projects, said RTCC Managing Director Lee Anne Nance.

"The Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster has adopted a strong brand promising to showcase and grow the unmatched cluster of clean technology companies in this region that are and will deliver economic, technical and societal value," Nance said. "We've hired Stone and Liaison to help us deliver that brand to the world."

8 business leads in one trip and first visiting programme in Denmark is already set up

Copenhagen Capacity gives high praise for this event in Lyon. As the official inward investment agency for the Greater Copenhagen Region it is part of Copenhagen Capacity's main services to assist foreign companies in finding business opportunities in Copenhagen and built their business case. Furthermore, Copenhagen Capacity is one of the founders of the Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster it has been a wish to work closer with ICN clusters and in this case the strong French cleantech cluster Tenerrdis.

As a result, Djouhara Westberg, Business Development Manager from Copenhagen Capacity, has been able to get in contact with eight stong companies from French industry. Especially one of the Tenerrdis companies - Air Liquid - shows strong interests in terms of cooperating with Danish companies. The first meetings will be hosted in late March in Copenhagen. Later in April Copenhagen Capacity has arranged a customized visiting programme for Air Liquid with Danish biomass companies. 'We appreciate the prompt and superior capabilities of ICN clusters and look forward to collaborating more with ICN', says Westberg.

"Advanced Energy sees working with the RTCC to lead a smart transportation industry engagement program as one of the next logical steps for the task force to take," said Jeff Barghout, Advanced Energy's division director for transportation initiatives, "The task force's ongoing work with more than 200 organizations showed us the significant concentration of electric vehicle supply chain companies that already operate in this region. We intend to build on that work to accelerate the growth of the industry and make electric vehicles convenient for our residents to use."

RTCC Managing Director Lee Anne Nance said the smart transportation focus is a natural fit with the RTCC's rapidly maturing smart grid cluster. "The center's work is transforming the power industry in the same way the Internet transformed the computer industry from mainframe to desktop to mobile device," Nance said. "Together, smart grid and smart transportation hold extraordinary potential for innovation and business development in our 13 counties."

Prior to the seminar Tenerrdis and the Lombardy Energy Cluster had successfully teamed up to bring participants to the seminar, including companies interested in BtB meetings.

The seminar was jointly organised by Tenerrdis and Environment Park, an energy cluster in Piedmont, that work together on the European cross-border project CLAIRE (http://www.fp7-piter.eu/index.php?id=179). Tenerrdis invited the Lombardy Energy Cluster to participate as well, which resulted in the Lombardy Energy Cluster bringing eight Italian companies to the seminar.

Tenerrdis and the Lombardy Energy Cluster have decided to intensify their partnership and to look into their respective companies' profiles in order to identify further technological/business co-operation opportunities.

COOLSWEEP (Coordinating and Leveraging regional knowledge for initiating a Sustainable and optimised EU Waste to Energy Programme) is a three-year project, focused on energy recovery from waste and innovative use of by-products. Activities will include mapping of cluster strongholds, facilitating better knowledge sharing and use of complementary competences in participating clusters to develop efficient waste-based energy production.

Cooperation made possible through the ICN

The project application process was initiated by ICN member Oslo Renewable Energy and Environment Cluster (OREEC) that gathered five more ICN member clusters. During the application and negotiation phase three additional partners were included in the final consortium: Coordinator OREEC (Norway), Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster (Denmark), ECO World Styria (Austria), Lombardy Energy Cluster (Italy), Aclima (Spain), FORA (Denmark), Montanuniversität (Austria) and Riga Technical University (Latvia), and Cambi AS (Norway) as a third party.

OREEC Project Manager Kjetil Storvik applauds ICN for providing a platform for international collaboration that has facilitated ICN's first joint EU-funded project, 'ICN provides an exclusive network where all clusters are able to share competences and define opportunities. The COOLSWEEP success story has taken collaboration to a new level.'

Kick off meeting in Oslo

The kick off meeting was hosted by OREEC in Kjeller, Lillestrøm, on 28-29 January. All partners attended the two-day event to discuss formal requirements and topical challenges. Two working packages have been initiated: 'Analysis of Cluster' headed by FOR A, and 'Dissemination' that Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster will lead.

Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster project manager Rosa Klitgaard Andersen is looking forward to fruitful results. As she says 'Ultimately, COOLSWEEP will translate into tangible business opportunities for our stakeholders'.

First in Italia to achieve the Bronze Label

The certification of excellence represents a competitive advantage in the run-up to the coming European Funding Programme 2014-2020, as the EU will invest only in Europe's leading clusters. The certificate will indirectly benefit in particular SMEs as they are now part of a cluster with enhanced opportunities to obtain funding for research and innovation.

President of Lombardy Energy Cluster Alberto Ribolla is proud of the certificate of excellence:

"We are very proud to be the first Italian cluster to achieve this recognition. It confirms our strategy and is a successful example of how cluster networks increase productivity and innovation, as Michael Porter claims. The Bronze Label represents a competitive advantage, upgrading us from regional and national level to interact internationally with the world's best cleantech clusters. This represents only a first step, as we are striving to obtain the Gold Label."

Launches energy cluster platform to boost regional and international collaborations

One of the main projects of the Lombardy Energy Cluster has been developing a platform for internationalization together with LIUC University and 20 cluster companies. The new web-based platform is the Lombardy Energy Cluster's business community and is a tool for cluster companies to share and spread competences, know-how and information. Moreover, the platform effectively enables companies to present themselves on foreign markets.

The LIUC University and Lombardy Energy Cluster have worked on the platform for one year and it is now ready to be used by companies in Lombardy Energy Cluster. At the moment, 28 cluster companies out of 97 have joined and the objective is to involve all cluster companies and to use the platform as main communication tool within the Lombardy Energy Cluster.

Read more about the Lombardy Energy Cluster Platform

The four projects are:

• Essaimage, improved hydraulic turbine models to meet increasing demand for hydroelectricity
• Smart Hydro Monitoring, hydraulic conduit flow measurement
• Bambi II, an innovative multi-biomass burner
• Renov-Indus, an integrated approach for renovating buildings from the inside

Read more about the four Tenerrdis-certified projects