1. Clustering for Growth – An International
Perspective
The EU’s Pacific Island pilot cluster project
Ifor Ffowcs-Williams
30 May 2014

2. © Cluster Navigators Ltd 2014
TCI Oceania Conference
Sydney May 2014
1
Ifor Ffowcs-Williams
New Zealand
Clustering for Growth
An International Perspective
The EU’s Pacific Island pilot cluster project
Why cluster development?
“The evidence is clear:
Regions that are home to
dynamic clusters,
and companies that are
rooted in such clusters,
do better.”
Dr Christian Ketels
President,
The Competitiveness Institute
Every EU country has some form of
cluster development support in
place
The Buzzword in Brussels:
France:
Major
clusters
under
development
Germany’s
lead
clusters
Financing
for
each
cluster:
up
to
€40
million
over
5
years

3. © Cluster Navigators Ltd 2014
TCI Oceania Conference
Sydney May 2014
2
Sweden’s national innovation agency
Role: To Connect & Catalyse
2014-05-14
Sweden’s
national
cluster
programme
Sweden’s cluster programme,
VINNVÄXT
• A competition that rewards the best
• 200 applications, only 15 awards, each
receiving up to EUR 1 million per year
• Support for 10 years, sometimes 16
• Focus on a region’s strengths … it’s ‘smart
specialisation’
• Active participation of companies, researchers
and political/public sector, the Triple Helix
• Strong support activities: seminars, coaching,
networking, experience-sharing etc. 2014-05-14
VINNVÄXT
VINNVÄXT
2013
Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
Population: 30,000

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2014-05-14
VINNVÄXT
VINNVÄXT
2013
Risk
and
Security
Material
Science
Mobile
CommunicaDon
Life
Science
Packaging
Clean
Tech
LogisDc
White
fields
Finland
Denmark
China
Germany
Germany
Canada
Italy
Korea
Skåne,
Sweden
Cluster
engagement
2014-05-14
VINNVÄXT
VINNVÄXT
2013
ProcessIT Cluster review
Last week in Umea, northern Sweden
ProcessIT Cluster review
Last week in Umea, northern Sweden
• International review ever 3 years
• This year: US based IT Professor & IFW
• Triple Helix in action, senior stakeholders
• From business
• Multinationals and SMEs
• From public agencies
• National, municipal
• From two universities
• Management Team and Board
Bornholm, Denmark
Population 42,000
SWEDEN FINLAND
RUSSIA
ESTONIA
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
BELARUS
POLAND
Baltic Sea

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Business Clusters on
Bornholm
BUILDING & CONSTR.
MECH. ENGINEERING
FOOD
TOURISM
ARTS & CRAFT
AGRICULTURE
ENERGY
Bornholm as ”green/
sustainable” technology
and test laboratory
Bright Green Test Island:
CleanTech, renewable
energy, building &
construction
Bornholm as
The Adventure Island
www.Bornholm.info.,
www.Enjoybornholm.dk
nature, wellness, arts & craft,
medieval history and culture,
music & sports events
Bornholm as the Food
Island
Gourmet Bornholm/ food
producers, farmers,
restaurants, chefs,
canteens, wholesalers,
distributors, retailers
EU actively linking European Clusters
e.g. Food clusters
• Oresund
(Denmark/Sweden)
• Flanders
(Belgium)
• Rogaland
(Norway)
• Wielkopolska
(Poland)
• Emilia-Romagna
(Italy)
• Castilla y León
(Spain)
• North Rhine Westfalia
(Germany)
• Rhone Alps
(France)
EU’s Cluster Pilot projet
PNG, Samoa, Tonga & Vanuatu
• Piloting cluster-based economic
development in small island environments
• 6 month programme, ending July
• Driven by Chambers of Commerce, close
donor involvement
• Budget: Euros 1 million
• First cluster project in South Pacific?
Samoa’s Pilot Cluster
Adding value to coconut oil

6. © Cluster Navigators Ltd 2014
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Vanuatu’s Cluster Pilot
Cruise Tourism
Tonga’s Cluster Pilot
Broadly based ‘Team Tonga’
PNG’s Cluster Pilot: ICT
Voting on the development agenda
Catalysing a cluster requires a
change agent ... the cluster manager
Cats …
much easier
to herd than cluster
members
A Cluster Manager
Advice to Cluster Managers
1. Listen!
• Listen carefully to the needs of your
cluster’s stakeholders.
• Visit, understand their situation, their
opportunities, their constraints.
• Identify common agendas, the cross-cutting
themes.
• Respond with demand orientated services,
collaborative projects.

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2. Explore at the
cluster’s periphery
• Generate multiple options at the edges:
• Test new agendas that have passion;
• Don’t kill them through debate;
• Build a portfolio of activities.
• Learning-by-doing, not paralysis-by-analysis.
• If there are no failures you are taking it
too easy.
3. Find the cluster champions
that others trust
• Energise, empower your cluster’s talent
• Encourage leaders who are door openers to
step forward
• Build a Coalition of the Willing
• Ensure you are not the ‘Project Manager’
for everything.
4. Build a Co-opetition Culture
Co-purchasing
Co-marketing
Co-production
Co-specialisation
Co-creation of value
5. Blow the Trumpet!
Tell your cluster’s story…loudly
• Within the cluster
• Core firms; banks, suppliers,
professional services…
• Public agencies, politicians
• Universities, High schools …
• Well beyond the cluster
• Customers, related clusters, investors,
migrants, national agencies …
Cluster development…Centre Stage
Not just ‘another project’
Cluster Development
Centre Stage
An integrated framework for:
R&D, Technology transfer
SME development; Start-ups
Investment, migrant attraction
Skills, training; workforce development
Incubators & Industry/Technology Parks
Export development, internationalisation
Economist Intelligence Unit
Fostering innovation-led clusters, 2011
“There are few economic
development policies as
popular as clusters.
It is hard today to find a
country, region, or even city
that is not trying to develop a
network of complementary and
competitive firms.”

8. © Cluster Navigators Ltd 2014
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Global Competitiveness Report, 2013/14
Ranking, Cluster Development
2. Italy
3. UAE
4. Germany
5. Switzerland
12. Finland
13. UK
14. Malaysia
15. Norway
16. India
17. Austria
18. Canada
19. Sweden
21. Ireland
23. Saudi Arabia
28. South Korea
30. Turkey
33. Thailand
34. Denmark
35. Mexico
37. Australia
42. Spain
43. South Africa
44. Cambodia
45. Czech Republic
50. Chile
53. Kenya
54. Mauritius
56. Iceland
62. Pakistan
65. Nigeria
66. Bangladesh
68. Vietnam
70. Rwanda
73. New Zealand
IFW has been engaged on cluster development in
each of the identified countries
Why is cluster development not
fully on the agenda in OZ & NZ?
Blue
Mountains
Creative
Cluster
www.bluemountains.org.au
Ifor Ffowcs-Williams
CEO, Cluster Navigators Ltd
22 Examiner St, Nelson 7010
New Zealand
E4@clusternavigators.com
+ 64 3 548 0606
www.clusternavigators.com
www.linkedin.com/in/clusterdevelopment
Skype: ‘clusterguy’
Blog: www.e4oncompetitiveness.com