avv. Annalisa Tessarolo DG GROW F2 Advanced Technologies, Clusters & Social Economy

1. Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEsEU cluster initiatives for industrial modernisation avv. Annalisa Tessarolo DG GROW F2 Advanced Technologies, Clusters & Social Economy

2. Cluster policies at centre of regional,national & international industrial policies - 31 national cluster programmes in 20 European countries with different extent of support - High importance for regions with 2.320 billion € of envisaged ESIF investments (2014-2020) - Many non-European countries too use clusters to promote growth, e.g. Canada's industrial supercluster => crucial instrument for economic development

3. Clusters are accelerators of growth &industrial change There are 3043 strong regional clusters in related industries. Clusters matter because they… • account for 54 million jobs; • are representedin all parts of Europeand have shown resilienceduring economic crises; • nurturegrowth and jobs e.g. 3% higher wages and the 67 700 young, fast growing enterprises in clusters employ more staff (35 compared to 24 outside). Source: European Commission, European Cluster Panorama 2016, star rating for size, specialisation, productivityand growth.

4. European Cluster Collaboration Platformconnecting over 970 cluster organisations Boosting collaboration and connecting enterprises by using clusters as multipliers Reaching out to over 100.000 SMEs, some 8.000 large firmsand11.000 universities/research organisations.

5. Fosteringstrategicinterregional collaboration

6. Support to European regions in industrial transition Hauts-de-France (FR) Norra Mellansverige (North-Middle Sweden) Piemonte (Italy) Saxony (Germany) Wallonia (Belgium) Cantabria (Spain) Centre Val de Loire (France) East-North Finland Lithuania Slovenia • 10 pilotregions in industrialtransition • Study visits, stakeholderinterviews, policy reviewmeetings • Policy briefings - one summary report Joint Peer Review Meeting (Turin, April 4th) https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/cluster/observatory

7. The future of EU Cluster Policy

8. Partnering Event for European Strategic Cluster Partnerships 25 October 2018 https://youtu.be/xcQxn-7lkWc

9. Stakeholder feedback – EU Industry Days Clusters are a strategic tool of industrial policy

10. Discussions at the European Cluster Policy Forum Dialogue with policy-makers from Member States, European Commission & experts about modern cluster policies Peer review and policy learning 22 February 2018 26 April 2018 15 November 2018 14 March 2019

12. Have your say about cluster-related policy developments at EU, national and regional level & discuss about hot topics (digitalisation, skills gap, circular Europe, shared value &social impact) Listen to feedback from EU Cluster Weeks events &comment on current/upcoming challenges & opportunities Team up with others by networking during the conference &engaging in the pre-conference EU matchmaking event. Cluster Award ceremony for: • EU Cluster Manager 2019 • European Strategic Cluster Partnership for Smart Specialisation Investments (ESCP-S3) • European Strategic Cluster Partnerships – Going International (ESCPs-4i) • Innosup-1 partnerships www.eucluster2019.eu Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

13. Commission Expert Group on Clusters • To be set up asannounced in the renewed EU Industrial Policy Strategy in order “to provide recommendation on how to better use clusters as a strategic tool of industrial policy” as part of facilitating a dialogue on cluster policy excellence • Follow-up to the discussions of the European Cluster Policy Forum, and liaise and build upon other relevant Commission expert groups • Composed of representatives of the Member States (nominated) and individual experts (selected through a call for the expression of interest)

14. Towards Joint Cluster Initiatives • - Industry-focused actions guided by joint strategies of specialised SME intermediaries • - Thematically targeted, with cross-regional and cross-sectoral outreach to SMEs • - Channelling scale-up support to groups of SMEsto boost industrial transformation • Building EU value chains,industrialmodernisation& capacity building Skills upgrading, talent attraction & entrepreneurship acceleration Boosting internationalisation & access to global value chains

15. Joint Cluster Initiatives creating linkages with other policies • Sustainable partnering: continuation funding allowing long-term planning and engagement of industry and public authorities • Strategic tool for the acceleration and implementation of other policies, notably for • smart specialisation strategies and Cohesion Policy investments, • (digital) innovation hubs, • Horizon Europe with the European Innovation Council etc., • Erasmus, • and others… • Scalable potential: use SME intermediaries of Joint Cluster Initiatives and Enterprise Europe Network to implement further scaling-up support to SMEs Recital 28 of the proposal for a Regulation establishing the Programme for single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including SMEs, and European statistics: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/publications/single-market-programme-legal-texts-and-factsheets_en

16. Thankyou https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/clusterhttp://www.clustercollaboration.eu/ @Clusters_EU Advanced Technologies, Clusters and Social Economy unit (GROW.F2) Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing Directorate European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs GROW-CLUSTERS@EC.EUROPA.EU