Europe

Five Bulgarian companies expressed their interest in becoming part of the automobile cluster in the Austrian province Styria (AC Styria). This became clear during a bilateral business forum held November 9.

The Baltic Sea Initiative scrutinized by 25 cluster practitioners in our conference in Ottawa! One of our breakoutsessions discussed this initiative in depth guided by Ifor Ffowcs Williams and Kevin Muphy as facilitators and the speakers Lars Eklund, Christian Ketels and Sylvia Schwaag-Serger.

U.K. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced a government investment to match funding from three regional development agencies to boost employment, transport, housing and tourism in the North of England over the next 20 years. The objective is to close the prosperity gap between the North and the richer southern part of the country.

A meeting was held recently in Silverskär, Åland, Finland to address the national initiatives of the recently formed Northern Clustering Alliance. The network is driven by the needs for competitiveness and innovation; the demand for tailored micro economic policies including cluster development will increase sharply in the Baltic Sea Region.

In January 2004 TCI distributed an electronic questionnaire to all TCI members. The questionnaire sought to identify the barriers which most commonly impede the cluster formation processes - and it also sought to identify examples of clusters successfully overcoming these obstacles.

A Summary of the 1st international conference of Slovenian clusters held in Bled.

TSG, The Services Group is searching for offers a number of job positions for a consultancy project in Kosovo. Among them a vacancy for a Clusters and Enterprise Development Specialist.

Ruhrpakt the collaboration platform of industry, science institutes, government and chambers of commerce in the German Ruhr region has launched a new website: www.ruhrpakt.de

The international conference Competitiveness of small economies, held in Riga April 23 -24 addressed the question "how small countries such as the Baltic States can compete in the EU single market"

The European Union celebrated its recent extension during the European Union Enlargement Conference (EIADT) in Paris May the 3rd and 4th.