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Ifor Ffowcs-Williams

Ifor Ffowcs-Williams is founder and past president of The Competitiveness Institute. He is Chief Executive of Cluster Navigators Ltd in Wellington, New Zealand.

Ifor Ffowcs-Williams

Since establishing Cluster Navigators in 1997, Ifor has been active across Europe, North America, Africa, the Caribbean and Australasia in introducing clustering as a cornerstone for economic development. Ifor is a frequent speaker on competitiveness, clusters, and local innovation systems.

Ifor's focus has been on the training of economic development professionals in the process of cluster development, designing and reviewing cluster development programmes, and facilitating cluster workshops.
His clients include:

International development agencies: The World Bank (Washington); OECD (Paris); UNIDO (Vienna); Commonwealth Secretariat (in the Caribbean); IFC (in Bangladesh); New Zealand Aid (in SE Asia); Sweden's aid agency (in East Africa).
National development agencies: Industry Canada; AusIndustry (Canberra); Scottish Enterprise; Welsh Development Agency; VINNOVA and NUTEK, Sweden; Iceland's Industry Ministry; TEKES, Finland; Innovation Norway; NPCC Mauritius; New Zealand Trade & Enterprise; TIDCO Trinidad; South Africa's Tourism Department; CERMA (Tbilisi, Georgia); InterTradeIreland; CzechInvest (Prague); Innovation Associates (Malaysia).
Regional /local development agencies:
Australia: Queenslands Department of State Development, DPI Queensland, DIIRD Victoria, NSW Department of State and Regional Development, Desert Knowledge Australia (Alice Springs), Brisbane City Council; regional councils;
Canada: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Nova Scotia Association of Regional Development Agencies; Newfoundland Government;
South Africa: Cape Province;
UK: SE England Development Agency; Northern Ireland's Centre for Competitiveness;
USA: Louisiana's Department of Economic Development; Oregon's Department of Agriculture;
New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin...
Industry Associations: South African Sugar Association; Cape Town IT Initiative; New Zealand Biotech Association; New Zealand Forest Industries Council; Australian Information Industry Association; Victorian Trout Association...

Prior to the establishment of Cluster Navigators, Ifor was with the New Zealand Trade Development Board and over a decade encouraged New Zealand's exporters to move beyond their comfort zones in 'co-operating to compete' through participation in networks and clusters.

Ifor is a Founder and Past President of The Competitiveness Institute (Barcelona, Spain), the leading professional association that focuses on cluster-based economic development. (www.competitiveness.org). He has served as Vice President, Australia New Zealand Regional Science Association International (www.anzrsai.org).

Ifor is Chairman, Cluster Navigators Australia Pty Ltd (Melbourne). He is Welsh, and lived in Canada before making New Zealand home. He now spends over half of each year travelling the world from his base in Wellington, spreading the 'cluster gospel'.