Europe, Middle East & Africa

Michael Porter addressed 'oneLondon' recently, on how to provide practical solutions for deprived areas in the UK's capital. OneLondon is an organization dedicated to innovation and inclusion. It is formed by members from both private and public sectors of business.

The EU has been researching ways to alleviate problems within the Northern European Trade Axis (NETA), running through six countries: Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Poland.

150 cluster practitioners from 24 countries, among them many TCI-members, participated in the European Seminar on Cluster Policy held on 10 June in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Papers and presentations from the seminar can now be downloaded from the seminar's website.

Ernst & Young has ranked the Swiss biotech industry as one of the top in Europe on product development, turnover and market capitalization. This success can largely be attributed to biotech clusters developed in the Basel, Geneva, and Zurich areas. The Zurich MedNet is comprised of more than 400 companies, universities, institutes, foundations, hospitals and labs making it the single largest medical/biotech cluster in continental Europe.

The Maine Science and Technology Foundation recently published an article detailing the similarities (and more recent differences) between Maine and Finland, and concluding that Maine should follow Finland's model for success. The article details how Maine and Finland share similar economic histories (based on rich natural resources and manufacturing), climates, and attitudes.

In 1995, the Le Maroc Competitif was launched in Morocco to develop a cluster-based approach for economic growth. In cooperation with the World Bank and an agreement with the European Union, Morocco identified four potential clusters to drive the economy: textiles and apparel, sea products, tourism, and electronic and information technology.

Over the course of the last year, the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) has been investigating the potential development of economic clusters in Northwest Russia. ETLA has identified Northwest Russia as "a growth engine" and is looking to establish more formal over-the-border cooperation between Finland and Russia.

The Prime Minister of the Catalan Government, Hon. Artur Mas, and Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard University, have announced the launch of an independent foundation to evaluate the competitiveness of regional economic clusters across the world. The foundation is based in the Valles Technology Park (Barcelona).

Analysing regional clusters is a delicate business, which requires a balance of qualitative and quantitative methods and data. Analysing potential future clusters is even more challenging. However that is exactly what was accomplished in a recent report by the Greater Copenhagen Development Council.

Professor Örjan Sölvell is preparing a green book on cluster initiatives for the forthcoming TCI Global Conference. One of the sources will be a major international survey focusing on cluster initiatives (rather than the clusters themselves). Researchers would like your help to identify as many cluster initiatives as possible.