A very relevant growth opportunity for the territories and regional ecosystems of the EU, not only because the Euroclusters manage resources destined for SMEs through cascade calls, but also because it is now proven that regions with clusters on their territory are more competitive and invest more in research and development.
Clusters are, in fact, key players in the European industrial landscape thanks to their ability to connect economic actors along the value chain. "They are geographical concentrations of interconnected companies and related economic entities that have reached a sufficient scale to develop skills, services, resources, suppliers, and specialized skills. They include companies of different sizes, but also other essential entities of an industrial ecosystem, such as research institutes, science and technology parks, financial service providers, non-profit organizations, and related public entities. Clusters can therefore be used to develop and strengthen critical value chains within and beyond their sector,” reads the call.
Moreover, their importance is also clearly highlighted in the Draghi Report on Competitiveness where it is emphasized how, thanks to their ability to connect the actors of industrial ecosystems and expand the scope and reach for EU companies, “innovation clusters not only support competitiveness at the European and global level during the dual transition and resilience, but also support smart specialization at the regional level. This is because clusters also have the ability to facilitate rapid interactions between different stakeholders and find innovative solutions when product availability is scarce,” writes Draghi.
Given the relevance of the call opened in mid-October, this morning EISMEA (European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency) held an online webinar followed by almost 300 participants, in which it illustrated the main features of the notice, also providing a comparison with the previous one.
