Clusters are defined as group of firms, related economic actors, and institutions that are located near each other and have reached a sufficient scale to develop specialised expertise, services, resources, suppliers and skills. To summarize, clusters are regional concentrations of activities in groups of related industries. The European Cluster Panorama 2016 declares that “clusters have powerful roles in diagnostics, design, and delivery of effective policies in order to contribute to the number one objective of achieving more jobs, growth and investments”, and also highlights that “clusters offer a fertile ground for fostering industry transformation and the development of emerging industries”. (1) The Panorama 2016 also certified that wages in strong clusters or more developed clusters are close to 3% higher than in industries not located in such regional hotspots, and that strong clusters have shown resilience through the crisis, for example their share in total traded industry employment and wages has from 2008 to 2014 increased slightly. Therefore it is important to improve current clusters to be stronger and prepared to adapt industry for the new trends These new trends could be classified in different topics as internazionalization, due to the need to work in a global market; Business leadership and entrepreneurship, because new market methods and social networks are changing all the ways of managing a business and interacting with customers, competitors and workers and also to foster the growth of emerging industries; And industry 4.0, owing to that new technologies are changing industrial processes toward a smart industry Therefore, it is necessary to train cluster managers on how to work up and transform their clusters into strong clusters, that have the neccessary tools and knowledge to transfer all that information to the different SMEs of their network, with the final purpose to prepare industry for incoming trendings topics of the global market For that reason the main objective of Cluster4Smart Project is to expand the knowledge of Cluster Managers of Europe through the development of an innovative training resource To reach the main objective, different activities will be carried on: 1. Search of current knowledge and gaps on clusters towards clusters4.0 2. Training content definition 3. Development of the training materials with different tools (text, videos, photos, etc) 4. Creation of an online MOOC platform to upload the training course 5. Cluster4Smart training course validation by stakeholders In order to achieve these purposes, a Strategic Partnership has been gathered with 7 entities from different countries and expertise in different fields of the propose project: three clusters, two of them classified as gold clusters (SCS Cluster, ArchEnerg and AMUEBLA); two Universities with high experience developing training resources for cluster management (MMU and UNISTRA); an Innovative Business Center expert in entrepreneurship (CEEI-Burgos); and a National Cluster Association in charge of spreading project results (IKOSZ). The consortium will be completed with several associated partners (cluster, Universities, business associations, Development Agencies…) that will be involved in different tasks of the proposal and will ensure a wide dissemination of project results Partners complement each other and bring added value due to their international approach while developing all planed activities. In terms of longer term benefits: - Cluster4Smart will contribute to update skills and knowledge of current cluster managers and regional developers, and also to future professionals that are currently studying in specialized Universities and VET centers. Thus, Cluster4Smart will improve current strategy clusters, empowering them to give better services for their members - Cluster4Smart will foster the European industry and transform it to a smart industry. The implementation of Cluster4Smart project will increase the competitiveness of the EU industry because the enlargement in knowledge at the hour to adapt the industry to a 4.0 industry - Cluster4Smart will create awareness to include clusters as a key tool for regional developments. In this way the development of Cluster4Smart activities will permit us to adapt and implement the recommended tasks by the Commision in the report “Cluster Collaboration and Business Support Tools to Facilitate Entrepreneurship, Cross-sectoral Collaboration and Growth”. (2) - Cluster4Smart will enhance the opportunities for cooperation between Universities and the business sector, providing opportunities for cooperation among stakeholders and the exchange and transfer of knowledge and know-how . [1] European Cluster Panorama. European Cluster Observatory. DG Growth: Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (2016) [2]http://www.clusterplattform.at/fileadmin/user_upload/clusterbibliothek/Cluster-collaboration-and-business-support-tools.pdf
Cluster organisations’ role is to facilitate industry competitiveness of geographicaly concentrated companies and players of a same industry sector by connecting them together and fostering collaborative innovation dynamics. Clusters must be aware of global trends impacting the economy to support their members in their anticipation and adaptation to changes. In the context of transition towards Industry 4.0, it has become a necessity for cluster managers to upskills and advice the SMEs of their network to foster their digitalisation and competitiveness. That is why the Cluster4Smart project aims at upskilling cluster managers, with the final purpose to shape strong European clusters able to prepare industries for incoming trending topics of the global market. The main objective of Cluster4Smart is thus to develop an innovative online training resource dedicated to cluster managers of Europe and to their stakeholders. To this effect, a strategic partnership of seven complementary entities gathered, from different countries and expertise in different relevant fields: three clusters (SCS Cluster, ArchEnerg and AMUEBLA); the University of Strasbourg, (UNISTRA); a consultancy firm in cluster management (gnomon); an Innovative Business Center (CEEI-Burgos); and the Hungarian Cluster Association (IKOSZ). Diverse activities were successfully carried on, leading to the following outcomes : 1. Study of the current knowledge and gaps on clusters towards clusters4.0, based on the existing literature and the actual needs for skills of European cluster managers and stakeholders since 146 respondants (on 150) expressed their needs in the survey. 20 ability, capacity, skills, and competence needs have been identified and served as a basis for the definition of the course learning outcomes. This survey completes the few existing literature on this topic. 2. Selection of the learning outcomes and definition of the training content. Prior to the selection was lead an in-depth mapping of the cluster manager’s competences, skills and knowledge profile, based on the IO1 results and on the experience of gnomon and Unistra in teaching cluster management. Then the Cluster4Smart learning outcomes were selected by the consortium and according to the needs expressed in IO1, and a set of 50 topics united in 10 lessons and 4 main modules have been defined, indexed in the Joint Curriculum (IO2). This work carried out in this phase was not only useful the project but also allowed Unistra to further develop its training offer in cluster management. 3. Production of the e-learning training materials, which was the fruit of the consortium collaboration, since the lessons were distributed among 5 partners, harmoniously coordinated by Unistra. Diverse innovative tools were developed: 53 videos (traditional course and motion design), 3 interactive infographics, 22 interactive exercises, 47 course documents and 14 tool and vocab sheets, and 3 case studies. This longer but fruitful phase (c. 60-hours-training) also involved 21 industrial and academics experts within and outside the consortium in the fields of cluster management, innovation and industry. 4. Creation of an online MOOC platform to upload and display the training course. The platform is available here (http://training.cluster4smart.eu/) and gathers all the training materials produced in phase 3. 5. Validation of the Cluster4Smart training course by stakeholders and dissemination. The real verification survey, which was led during the COVID-crisis, only gathered 35 respondents among the sample of 101 testers, but the vast majority of them validated the training course content quality, pedagogical approach, and platform usability, and the compliance with their learning expectations. The validation phase strongly contributed to the dissemination of the training platform, thanks to a word of mouth effect: 75 user-accounts have been created during the test phase. Given the global context, the local multiplier events have been cancelled and replaced by a webinar disseminated at the European level, with the participation of Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit Advanced Technologies, Clusters and Social Economy of the European Commission. In terms of longer-term benefits: Cluster4Smart is upskilling the current cluster managers and regional developers, and thus contributes to improve current clusters’ strategies, empowering them to provide better services fostering the European industry and smart transition. In this sense, Cluster4Smart contributes to establish clusters as key tools for regional developments. It also enhances the opportunities for academic-business cooperation, providing new opportunities among stakeholders and the exchange and transfer of knowledge and know-how. New similar projects are already being implemented on the same model. [1]http://www.clusterplattform.at/fileadmin/user_upload/clusterbibliothek/Cluster-collaboration-and-business-support-tools.pdf