Key stakeholders from across Europe have gathered online for the first-ever fully virtual European Cluster Conference.
The European Commission’s flagship annual cluster event brought together cluster managers, cluster organisations, associations and partnerships and their members to debate and shape the future of cluster policy in Europe. The event was open to 1,000 people attending and taking part over two days.
A packed programme was organised by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in partnership with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, under the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and delivered by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform.
During the event, Danijel Pavlica of InoSens presented the Block.IS Project within the European Cluster Partnerships session. The aim of the session was to pitch project ideas and who the Project would like to collaborate with across Europe.
Investors and corporates were invited to join the Open Call 1 Demo Day and access blockchain investment opportunities pre-vetted by the Block.IS network of industry experts, while clusters and tech SMEs were encouraged to participate in Block.IS Cluster Mission Events — in order to learn the processes required to boost innovation, find out about the available resources, build relationships and expand their networks and capacity to support their SMEs’ growth.
Traditionally, at the end of the event, the award for the Cluster Manager of the Year was presented, which this year focused on the communications aspects of cluster management and partnerships. Conference attendees voted for the winner of this award after hearing short presentations from three shortlisted candidates.
The award went to Uwe Pfeil of the E-Mobility and IT-Logistics clusters in Germany. The Logistics Cluster is a Block.IS Consortium Member – proving once again that clusters involved in the project and their networks contribute and perform on the highest European level.
I am personally very honoured to be elected as European Cluster Manager 2020, but it is also a special award for the whole cluster team and proof of the excellent cluster policy of Regensburg.
The event was closed by Ulla Engelmann, of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, and Sabine Maass of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Alongside the conference, the Intra-European Cluster Matchmaking event on 11 and 12 November gave cluster and business network organisations the chance to connect, communicate and collaborate through pre-arranged one-to-one online meetings.
