European Gold-label Clusters Meeting

In the context of the start of the new European Commission, with new priorities and actions in the next period of European programmes, this meeting will gather, for the first time, 50+ representatives from Gold-Label cluster organisations across Europe to exchange experiences and collect ideas on how EU cluster initiatives can best address the needs of cluster organisations.

Representatives from the national cluster associations that teamed up in the European Cluster Alliance, representatives of the working group on the setting-up of the future European Cluster Excellence Association and officials from the cluster team in the European Commission’ Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) will join the discussions too.

A particular focus is placed on three themes: First, the way forward for the European Cluster Excellence Initiative in support of the European cluster excellence labelling process will be discussed. This session will include a presentation on the future governance model, practical aspects, and possible ways to make better use of the benchmarking process. Second, participants will have a chance to outline and discuss where they see needs for policy action at different levels. Third, different aspects and options for the next generation of the EU cluster initiatives – the future Joint Cluster Initiatives– will be discussed.