1. Insights from a global traveler
2. A checklist for clustering newcomers
3. A checklist for more established players
4. The Sunne Surprise
5. Rural cluster development
6. TCI's global conference in Finland
This occasional newsletter focuses on
the practice of addressing competitiveness and economic development
with a cluster focus. It goes out to 12,000 people in 130 countries.
1. Insights from a global traveler
I have
just completed a 3-month, 13 country round-the-world trip, including
Africa and northern Europe. The focus was on a series of 3-day cluster training workshops, with first-time visits made to Lithuania and Botswana.
Across Europe there is now a comprehensive understanding of the
merits of engaging at a cluster level. Almost every EU country has a
national or a regional cluster programme in place, often with an
innovation emphasis. Across Africa development agencies are
increasingly active, including Sida from Sweden and the World Bank. The
establishment of a Pan African Competitiveness Forum is underway, with
interest from 22 countries.
However, progress is not smooth with many clustering initiatives.
Checklists follow for newcomers and for more established players.
2. A checklist for clustering newcomers
For those countries/regions that are engaging on their first clusters:
Don't agonise too long over which
clusters. Quickly identify a portfolio of clusters for a pilot
programme based on transparent selection criteria;
Do agonise over the appointment of
cluster facilitators, canvass widely, select carefully … look for born
networkers, and weigh the balance in favour of women;
Empower cluster facilitators to
undertake the necessary cluster analysis, supported where necessary
with external sources. The facilitators need to fully understand both
the cluster's personalities and the cluster's issues;
Establish early in the development
process the criteria that will be used to measure progress, and firmly
gather the baseline data;
Expect 'low hanging fruit' projects to be underway within 3-4 months;
Discourage the facilitators from
acting as 'Project Managers' for every activity; rather encourage them
to build self-destruct task forces around the key projects that are led
by the cluster's stakeholders.
3. A checklist for more established players
Established clustering initiatives can
become moribund. Is yours one of those clustering initiatives that has
failed to move beyond networking events? Is it vulnerable to short term
changes in public agency priorities? Does it act like a conservatively
managed industry association, underpinned with public funding? Then
don't waste a good crisis! For those with more mature clustering
initiatives, especially in these difficult times:
Behave with URGENCY every day… destabilise a plodding clustering initiative with external threats;
Benchmark against higher performing clusters to generate data shocks for your cluster; bring the outside reality to an inwardly focused cluster;
Move on from having a strategic plan for your cluster, neatly balancing income and activities, to developing a strategic agenda
with stretch ambitions that reach well beyond the resources currently
at the cluster's disposal. And then seek the resources to deliver on
this higher level of activity;
Empower the entrepreneurs who have
vision and passion, and seek to engage at the cluster level, let them
determine the priorities;
Confront those who say "no" … those who kill urgency … those who are comfortable with the status quo;
Look for the upside possibilities, the new opportunities;
Work closely with other agencies; define for them more tightly your needs … the quality of support is the key, not the quantity;
And read John Kotter's new book 'A sense of Urgency', creating a gut-level determination to win. Now.
4. The Sunne Surprise
Professor Örjan Sölvell
(Stockholm School of Economics) and I are collaborating on a practical
'How To' resource on cluster development, with the working title for
the e-book of 'Clusters Alive!' Recently Örjan and I visited Sunne in
central Sweden and were surprised by what we found: a community with a
population of just 13,600 and over 650 people engaged in the graphics
industry. Sunne's centrepiece is an education facility covering
packaging design, packaging printing and graphical media that attracts
students from well beyond Sweden.
Yet in this globalised world Sunne is less and less of an
exception; many other communities are developing their specialisations,
often with a global reach. Two other surprises:
Lithuania for Lasers
80% of the world's high-energy pico-second lasers come from 15
companies based in Vilnius who supply universities and corporate
laboratories in 100+ countries.
Sialkot for Stainless Surgicals
Sialkot in northern Pakistan is the world's largest manufacturing centre for stainless steel surgical instruments.
Orjan and I are looking for other 'cluster surprises' to draw on for our book…can you help? Contributions welcomed.
5. Rural cluster development
Stu Rosenfeld and Regional
Technology Strategies, North Carolina have just published another
insightful report: 'Generating Local Wealth, Opportunity, and
Sustainability through Rural Clusters'.
The report has a triple bottom
line focus linking economic, social, and environmental outcomes. It
reinforces the policy shift from business attraction, diversification,
and addressing individual firms' needs to understanding firms as part
of a local system. A set of 50 vignettes of rural clusters from around
the world accompanies the report:
22 of these clusters evolved from single companies;
20 extend over regional political boundaries;
39 have education & training initiatives underway.
Denmark is hosting the TCI 2009 Rural Clusters Conference on the Baltic island of Bornholm, September 1st and 2nd. I expect to be there.
6. TCI's 2009 Global Conference, Finland
The Competitiveness Institute's
12th Annual Global Conference with the theme "Learning Clusters -
adapting to the new competitiveness scenario" will be in Jyväskylä,
Finland over 12-16 October 2009.
TCI is the global practitioners' network for competitiveness,
clusters and innovation. Its annual conference is the meeting point for
cluster facilitators, policy-makers, researchers and business leaders
working towards competitiveness. Each year experts from over 40
countries gather to share ideas, build alliances and explore the latest
trends in cluster-based policies. See you there? Further information: http://www.learningclusters.com
You are welcome to pass this newsletter on to others. If it has been forwarded to you in error, please accept my apologies.
