Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Towards world-class clusters in the European Union: {SEC(2008) 2637}
Date: 2008-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: economic growth, group of companies, innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 17.10.2008 
COM(2008) 652 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Towards world-class clusters in the European Union: 

{SEC(2008) 2637} 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Towards world-class clusters in the European Union: 

Implementing the broad-based innovation strategy 

INTRODUCTION 

Sustainable  growth  and  job  creation  in  the  EU  increasingly  depends  on  excellence  and 
innovation  as  the  main  drivers  of  European  competitiveness.  Recognising  this  fact,  the  EU 
adopted  in  2006  a  broad-based  innovation  strategy1  and  identified  strengthening  clusters  in 
Europe as one of the nine strategic priorities for successfully promoting innovation2.  

Building on the experience gained from regional, national and EU cluster policy efforts, the 
launch  of  the  European  Cluster  Memorandum3  in  January  2008  marked  an  important  step 
towards  further  encouraging  cluster  development.  More  recently,  the  EU  Heads  of  State  or 
Government underlined the need to better coordinate the framework conditions for innovation 
“including  through  improved  science-industry  linkages  and  world-class  innovation  clusters 
and the development of regional clusters and networks”4. 

A cluster can be broadly defined as a group of firms, related economic actors, and institutions 
that  are  located  near  each  other  and  have  reached  a  sufficient  scale  to  develop  specialised 
expertise,  services,  resources,  suppliers  and  skills5.  Cluster  policies  are  designed  and 
implemented at local, regional and national level, depending on their scope and ambition. It is 
the  role  of  the  Community  to  facilitate  and  add  to  such  efforts,  notably  by  improving  the 
framework  conditions,  promoting  research  and  education  excellence  and  entrepreneurship, 
fostering better linkages  between industry  (especially SMEs) and  research,  and encouraging 
mutual  policy  learning  and  cluster  cooperation  across  the  EU.  In  this  respect,  the  further 
completion of the internal market and the development of a competitive European Research 
Area is crucial. 

This Communication outlines a policy framework for better complementarities and synergies 
between the different policy levels with a view to supporting the development of more world-
class clusters in the EU. 

1 

2 

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4 

5 

See Commission Communication “Putting knowledge into practice: A broad-based innovation strategy 
for the EU”, COM(2006) 502 final, available at: http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0502en01.pdf 
Conclusions of the Council meeting of 4 December 2006 (Competitiveness): 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/91989.pdf. 
See http://www.proinno-europe.eu/NWEV/uploaded_documents/European_Cluster_Memorandum.pdf. 
Presidency  Conclusions 
2008): 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/99410.pdf. 
See  the  accompanying  Staff  Working  Document  on  “the  concept  of  clusters  and  cluster  policies  and 
their  role  for  competitiveness  and  innovation:  Main  statistical  results  and  lessons  learned”, 
SEC(2008)2637. 

the  Brussels  European  Council 

(13-14  March 

of 

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1. 

PROMOTING CLUSTERS IN THE EU — POLICY ACHIEVEMENTS  

Clusters are predominantly a market-driven phenomenon. Most successful clusters are created 
spontaneously  as  a  result  of  natural  competitive  advantages,  market  forces  or  simply  by 
chance. However, owing to dedicated cluster policies in Member States, notably since the end 
of the 1990s, there are an increasing number of cases where forward-looking public policies, 
business initiatives or top-class universities and research institutes have been instrumental in 
the emergence of strong clusters by acting as a catalyst and helping to unleash the economic 
and scientific potential of particular regions.  

Although overall cluster policy development remains at an early stage in the EU, it is gaining 
momentum. Cluster policy approaches differ across the EU. One size does not seem to fit all. 
While  different  instruments  and  mechanisms  in  support  of  clusters  are  being  applied  in 
different  places,  they  are  increasingly  being  used  to  foster  structural  change,  to  revitalise 
certain industrial sectors such as maritime industries6, and to provide a framework for other 
policies  such  as  research,  innovation  and  regional  policy.  As  a  result,  clusters  are  today  an 
important part of Europe’s economic reality. For example, the European Cluster Observatory7 
has identified around 2 000 statistically significant clusters defined as regional agglomerations 
of  co-located  industries  and  services,  suggesting  that  38%  of  the  European  workforce  is 
employed by companies in such clusters, i.e. highly agglomerated sectors. 

While  fully  accepting  the  market-driven  nature  of  clusters,  the  Community  has  been 
instrumental  in  promoting  the  emergence  and  excellence  of  clusters.  Since  the  early  1980s, 
public  authorities  responsible  for  economic  development  have  used  cohesion  policy 
instruments to develop innovation strategies including the nurturing of clusters. This is now 
also part of the European reform agenda for growth and jobs8 and approximately €86 billion, 
representing  25%  of  the  total  Cohesion  Policy  Fund,  has  been  allocated  in  the  current 
programming period (2007-2013) to research and innovation9. 

The  Community  Strategic  Guidelines  on  Cohesion  (CSGs)  adopted  by  the  Council  on  6 
October 200610 for the period 2007-2013 explicitly encourage Member States and regions to 
promote strong clusters as part of their economic reform strategies. The revised EU State aid 
framework  also  recognises  the  potential  usefulness  of  public  support  by  allowing  certain 
targeted support measures for cluster development11.  

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10 
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the 

for  Growth 

Integrated  Guidelines 

See the Staff Working Document on maritime clusters at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/pdf/Maritime_clusters_SEC_2007_1406.pdf. 
See http://www.clusterobservatory.eu or the accompanying Staff Working Document. 
and 
See 
http://ec.europa.eu/growthandjobs/guidelines/index_en.htm. 
See Commission Staff Working Document “Regions delivering innovation through Cohesion Policy”, 
SEC(2007) 1547, 14.11.2007. 
See http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/2007/osc/index_en.htm. 
See section 5.8 (“Aid for innovation clusters”) of the Community framework for State aid for research 
and development and innovation (OJ C 323, 30.12.2006, p. 1), laying down special rules for investment 
aid and operating aid for cluster animation. Nevertheless, these rules do not apply exclusively, so 
clusters may be eligible for other types of aid. More information on the State aid reform at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/state_aid/reform/reform.cfm. 

Jobs,  which 

can  be 

found 

at: 

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With  the  Regions  for  Economic  Change  initiative12,  the  Commission  assists  trans-national 
networks  of  regions  in  their  efforts  to  improve  their  regional  innovation  systems,  in  which 
cluster  policies  may  play  a  prominent  role.  The  Regions  of  Knowledge  initiative13 
implemented  under  FP7  as  part  of  the  European  Research  Area  (ERA)  policy14  aims  to 
strengthen the research potential of European regions through the establishment of research-
based  strategies  by  encouraging  the  development  of  research-driven  clusters  associating 
universities,  research  centres,  enterprises  and  regional  authorities  and  supporting  their 
cooperation. In addition, the Research infrastructures strand of the FP7 Capacities programme 
aims  to  optimise  the  use  and  development  of  existing  and  new  excellent  research 
infrastructures  of  pan-European  interest15.  Member  States  can  therefore  rely  on  substantial 
support  for  research  and  innovation,  including  cluster  development,  from  different  EU 
instruments. 

Overall  good  progress  has  been  made  in  promoting  closer  cooperation  between  cluster 
programmes  from  different  Member  States  and  regions,  as  documented  by  Memoranda  of 
Understanding  and  joint  pilot  projects  in  support of  cluster  activities.  The  European  Cluster 
Alliance16 has been particularly instrumental in bringing together a large number of ministries 
and  public  administrations  responsible  for  designing  and  implementing  cluster  policies. 
Different  public  administrations  are  now  working  more  closely  together.  As  a  result,  first 
steps towards practical cluster policy cooperation across the EU have been undertaken. 

Further downstream and in a complementary way, the EU is also lending concrete support to 
trans-national cooperation at operational level. The Europe INNOVA TM initiative17 under the 
Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) focuses primarily on the joint development 
of  new  or  better  tools  for  use  by  cluster  organisations  in  support  of  innovative  SMEs,  thus 
enhancing  business  support  services  for  clusters  in  Europe.  This  initiative  has  helped  to 
increase business linkages between clusters in the EU by organising cluster visiting schemes 
and  matchmaking  events  and  preparing  partnership  agreements  for  the  creation  of  open 
sectoral business platforms for clusters18.  

Given the crucial role of SMEs for the EU’s future development, the European Council has 
also highlighted the importance of facilitating the integration of innovative SMEs in clusters, 
in  particular  with  a  view  to  promoting  their  internationalisation  strategies  in  line  with  the 
recently launched Small Business Act19.  

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information  about  European  activities  on 

More information about this initiative can be found at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/interregional/ecochange/index_en.cfm. 
Further information about this initiative can be found at: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/capacities/regions-
knowledge_en.html. 
The  Commission’s  Green  Paper  on  “The  European  Research  Area:  New  Perspectives”,  COM(2007) 
161, 4.4.2007, clearly states that the ERA “should … progressively structure itself along the lines of a 
powerful web of research and innovation clusters”. 
More 
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/capacities/research-infrastructures_en.html. 
More  information  about  the  European  Cluster  Alliance  and  how  to  join  it  can  be  found  at: 
http://www.proinno-europe.eu/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&topicID=223&parentID=0. 
More information about the Europe INNOVA initiative at: http://www.europe-innova.org. 
More information is presented in the report “Europe INNOVA Innovation and Clusters: The experience 
of 11 Networks”, available at: www.europe-innova.org/index.jsp?type=page&cid=10337&lg=en. 
See  Commission  Communication  “Think  Small  First  —  A  ‘Small  Business  Act’  for  Europe”, 
COM(2008) 394, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/sba_en.htm. 

is  available  at: 

infrastructures 

research 

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2. 

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD — THE NEED FOR NEW POLICY ACTION 

Europe  does  not  lack  clusters,  but  persistent  market  fragmentation,  weak  industry-research 
linkages  and  insufficient  cooperation  within  the  EU  mean  that  clusters  in  the  EU  do  not 
always  have  the  necessary  critical  mass  and  innovation  capacity  to  sustainably  face  global 
competition and to be world-class. 

As  international  competition  builds  up  so  does  the  pressure  to  attain  excellence.  Strong 
clusters offer a fertile combination of entrepreneurial dynamism, intensive linkages with top-
level  knowledge  institutions  and  increased  synergies  among  innovation  actors.  They 
contribute  to  the  building  of  a  knowledge-based  economy  and  therefore  to  achieving  the 
objectives of the Lisbon Partnership for Growth and Jobs. Striving for excellence should thus 
be a high priority.  

As  part  of  the  renewal  of  the  economy,  new  clusters  are  emerging  over  time  as  others  lose 
their  competitive  edge.  This  is  a  healthy  market-driven  process  and  clusters  which  are  not 
working should not be artificially kept alive. Such clusters should not become a channel for 
subsidies  which  would  undermine  competition  and  even  the  emergence  of  new  competitive 
clusters. New cluster initiatives should be carefully designed and underpinned by a very clear 
rationale  based  on  precisely  identified  business  interests,  regional  strengths,  specific 
competences,  knowledge  hubs  of  international  excellence  and  market  foresight.  If  such 
conditions  are  not  fulfilled,  it  is  unlikely  that  a  cluster  initiative  will  be  successful.  The 
challenge then is to avoid a proliferation of cluster initiatives with little chance of long-term 
success.  

Policy  makers  at  all  levels  should  concentrate  on  providing  the  best  framework  conditions 
nurturing  innovation,  excellence  and  cooperation  across  the  EU.  To  support  this  approach, 
common  efforts  are  needed  to  achieve  more  synergies  and  complementarities  between 
different policies, programmes and initiatives. 

3. 

TOWARDS MORE WORLD-CLASS CLUSTERS IN THE EU  

The key to further strengthening competitiveness in Europe lies in striving for excellence at 
all levels and making best use of the potential that clusters offer.  

An  essential  role  of  the  Commission  in  supporting  cluster  excellence  is  to  complement 
regional and national cluster policies by further removing barriers to trade and mobility within 
the EU. A well functioning internal market offers the best conditions for more trans-national 
cooperation and mobility of investment, researchers and highly skilled people, all necessary 
for the development of stronger clusters in the EU. For instance, the European partnership for 
researchers recently launched by the Commission should help to remove remaining barriers to 
the mobility of researchers across the EU20. 

20 

See  Commission  Communication  “Better  careers  and  more  mobility:  A  European  Partnership  for 
Researchers”,  COM(2008)  317  final,  available  at:  htpp://ec.europa.eu/research/era/specific-era-
initiatives_en.html. 

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The  Commission  has  already  announced21  that  it  will  step  up  its  efforts  to  ensure  that  the 
different  Community  financial  instruments  function  in  a  more  strategic  and  consistent 
manner, enabling Member States to tailor their use of the instruments according to their own 
strategic  goals  and  conditions.  In  order  to  maximise  their  impact,  the  relevant  Community 
instruments  need  to  be  implemented  in  line  with  regional  and  national  efforts  in  support  of 
clusters, as suggested by the Committee of the Regions22.  

3.1. 

Improving cluster policies  

Member  States  are  invited  to  continue  integrating  cluster  policies  into  their  national  reform 
programmes  within  the  Partnership  for  Growth  and  Jobs  and  to  report  annually  on  their 
achievements. This helps policy makers to further shape successful cluster policies at national 
and regional level and to encourage the sharing of knowledge and good practices across the 
EU. In this context, it is worth stressing that the new generation of cohesion programmes is 
closely aligned with the National Reform Programmes and provides a significant contribution 
to their implementation. 

In  addition,  the  European  Cluster  Observatory  provides  policy  makers  with  neutral  and 
comparable  information  on  cluster  policies  and  relative  cluster  strengths  in  the  EU.  This 
cluster  mapping  service  to  Member  States,  promoting  evidence-based  policy  making  and 
mutual learning, will now be further refined and improved23.  

Striving for excellence also requires national and regional support programmes to better take 
into account the trans-national dimension of clusters, within the EU and beyond. To support 
better  upstream  coordination  between  Member  States  at  regional  and  national  level  in  the 
planning  of  new  cluster  initiatives  or  the  further  development  of  existing  ones,  the 
Commission therefore encourages Member States and regions to work more closely together 
at  policy  level.  In  this  context,  the  Commission  will  further  support  the  activities  of  the 
European  Cluster  Alliance  for  supporting  mutual  policy  learning,  sharing  best  practices  and 
experiences,  and  jointly  developing  common  practical  tools,  which  will  contribute  to  the 
development of better and more efficient cluster policies within the EU24. 

In  order  to  address  practical  constraints  to  closer  cluster  policy  cooperation,  the  European 
Grouping  on  Territorial  Cooperation25,  a  legal  instrument  created  under  the  cohesion  policy 
and primarily developed for managing cohesion policy programmes, may also be used. At the 
same  time,  the  Commission  invites  Member  States  and  regions  to  make  better  use  of 

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Communication on “Competitive European Regions through Research and Innovation”, COM(2007) 
474 final, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2007:0474:FIN:EN:PDF. 
See  the  Opinion  of  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  on  clusters  and  cluster  policy  adopted  at  its  75th 
Plenary Session on 19 June 2008, CdR 70/2008 rev.1 EN/o (ECOS-IV-024). 
See the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document on clusters, SEC(2008)2637. 
The  Council  welcomed  “the  Commission’s  initiative  of  the  European  Cluster  Alliance  aiming  at 
stimulating  practical  cooperation  between  regional  governments”  and  invited  the  Commission  in  this 
context to prepare “an analysis on how to promote the trans-national dimension of clusters.” The text of 
the  Conclusions  of  the  Council  meeting  of  4  December  2006  (Competitiveness)  is  available  at: 
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/91989.pdf. 
See Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006, OJ L 
210, 31.7.2006, p. 19, available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/regulation/newregl0713_en.htm. 

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opportunities provided by the single market when designing cluster programmes, for example 
through wider use of innovation vouchers for the purchase of support services across borders. 

To  further  help  Member  States  develop  a  more  strategic  vision  to  reach  critical  mass  and 
world-class  excellence,  the  Commission  will  establish  a  European  Cluster  Policy  Group26 
under the CIP to share intelligence about cluster policies with a view to further exploring how 
to better assist Member States in supporting the emergence of more world-class clusters. 

3.2. 

Fostering trans-national cluster cooperation  

Despite efforts to strengthen the single market, clusters in the EU cannot rely merely on the 
natural forces of agglomeration to attract talent and other assets in the same way, for instance, 
as  US  clusters  can.  Clusters  in  the  EU  can  compensate  for  some  of  these  disadvantages  by 
creating  stronger  linkages  with  other  clusters  offering  complementary  strengths.  Changes  in 
the global economic environment are also making cluster linkages more important. As firms 
internationalise their activities, it is important that cluster initiatives and organisations, which 
support them, internationalise too.  

Although cluster firms and cluster organisations compete against each other — in particular 
those  which  belong  to  the  same  sector  of  activities  —  there  are  many  reasons  justifying 
competition and cooperation at the same time. There is scope for further strengthening cluster 
excellence  through  trans-national  cluster  cooperation  at  business  level.  This  can  include 
exchanging knowledge, market intelligence and qualified staff, sharing access to research and 
testing  facilities,  and  developing  new  and  better  services  to  clustered  firms,  which  will 
contribute  to  the  creation  of  a  common  European  research  and  innovation  space.  The 
openness  of  European  businesses  to  cooperation  with  first-class  knowledge  hubs  —  both 
within and outside Europe — is a prerequisite for the emergence and growth of world-class 
clusters.  Such  openness  is  also  necessary  for  staying  competitive  in  the  increasingly  global 
business  environment.  Cluster  cooperation  can  further  contribute  to  the  successful 
implementation  of  the  shared  visions  of  the  Strategic  Research  Agendas  developed  by  the 
European Technology Platforms27.  

The  next  generation  of  Community  cluster  initiatives,  namely  under  Europe  INNOVA  TM, 
Regions  of  Knowledge  and  the  present  cohesion  policy  objective  European  Territorial 
Cooperation28,  will  boost  cluster  cooperation  in  the  EU  in  a  mutually  reinforcing  way  and 
contribute to the creation of more world-class clusters in Europe, especially in areas with high 
innovation potential such as those supported by the Lead Markets Initiative29 and other areas 
such as the maritime sector30. Successful and appropriate tools and instruments developed and 

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See Commission Decision C (2008)6091. 
More information can be found at: http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/home_en.html. 
The  “European  Territorial  Cooperation”  Objective  reinforces  and  replaces  the  former  Community 
Initiative  Interreg.  It  is  aimed  at  integrated  territorial  development,  interregional  cooperation  and 
exchange of good practice, and has streamlined its focus on innovation. €2 billion has been allocated to 
innovation for the period 2007-2013 in the EU-27 and trans-cluster activities bringing together several 
regions are part of this.  
Commission Communication “A lead market initiative for Europe”, COM(2007) 860 final, available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/leadmarket/leadmarket.htm. 
Under  the  EU  Integrated  Maritime  Policy  (“Blue  Book”),  COM(2007)  575,  10.10.2007,  the 
Commission announced its intention to foster networking between maritime clusters. 

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tested  by  these  new  cluster  partnerships  will  be  integrated  and  leveraged,  as  widely  as 
possible, into the new Enterprise Europe Network31.  

The  European  Year  of  Creativity  and  Innovation  2009  provides  a  good  opportunity  to 
promote the openness of clusters towards research institutes and international partners beyond 
borders.  The  Commission  will  support,  together  with  national  or  regional  partners  in  the 
Member  States,  the  organisation  of  European  Innovation  Weeks  to  promote  the  benefits  of 
industry-science linkages across borders in the context of clusters.  

3.3. 

Promoting excellence of cluster organisations 

Cluster  initiatives  are  increasingly  managed  by  specialised  institutions,  known  as  cluster 
organisations, which take various forms, ranging from non-profit associations, through public 
agencies  to  companies.  Businesses  and  other  innovation  stakeholders  involved  in  clusters 
need efficient, professional and appropriate support services to derive maximum benefits from 
their cluster organisation. Yet, up to now, the skills and professionalism of cluster managers 
have not been properly recognised. Efficient, professional cluster organisations are critical for 
raising  the  quality  of  business  support  services  and  driving  cluster  initiatives  towards  self-
sustainability.  

Cluster management  should  therefore be recognised as a new professional qualification that 
requires high quality standards and professionalism in order to provide efficiently the services 
needed  by  enterprises  and  institutions  working  together  in  clusters  and  to  fully  exploit  the 
benefits  from  university-industry-government  relations.  The  Commission  encourages  such 
efforts, which have already started in some EU regions.  

In  this  context,  the  Commission  will  launch  under  the  CIP  a  European  Pilot  Initiative  for 
Excellence  of  Cluster  Organisations  offering  specific  training  programmes  and  enhanced 
cooperation  to  cluster  managers.  If  successful,  this  initiative  could  ultimately  lead  to  the 
creation  of  a  self-sustainable  non-profit  European  Cluster  Manager  Association  developing 
and further maintaining a European quality label for excellent cluster organisations based on 
the  European  Foundation  for  Quality  Management  (EFQM)  Excellence  Model32.  Such  a 
European  cluster  label  could  help  cluster  organisations  to  raise  further  private  and  public 
funding and improve their visibility and recognition worldwide. 

3.4. 

Improving the integration of innovative SMEs into clusters  

Clusters  offer  a  fertile  environment  for  SMEs  to  innovate  and  develop  linkages  with  large 
companies  and  international  partners.  At  the  same  time,  although  clusters  benefit  from  the 
presence of large multinational companies, the integration of dynamic and innovative SMEs 
into  clusters  is  particularly  important  for  helping  clusters  achieve  high  levels  of  excellence 
and  innovation.  Policy  makers  should  therefore  consider  the  high  potential  of  SMEs  when 
designing cluster policies.  

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More information about the Enterprise Europe Network can be found at: http://www.enterprise-europe-
network.ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm. 
Detailed information about the EFQM model is available at: http://www.efqm.org/. 

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Cluster  organisations  offer  a  wide  range  of  customised  business  support  services  —  in 
particular for SMEs — which supplement existing forms of SME support in a very effective 
manner.  Such  services  include  facilitating  cooperation  between  SMEs  and  with  larger 
companies  and  research  institutes;  promoting  IPR  and  technology  transfer33;  and  supporting 
internationalisation activities.  

To  assist  SME  integration  into  clusters,  the  European  Cluster  Observatory  will  provide 
additional  information  about  services  offered  by  cluster  initiatives,  which  will  be  useful  for 
enterprises and investors in search of investment locations and strategic partners in the EU.  

Better,  customised  support  services  for  SMEs  offered  by  or  channelled  through  cluster 
organisations will also be developed as pilot projects and tested under the Europe INNOVATM 
initiative and, if successful, then broadly leveraged at EU level through the European Cluster 
Alliance and the Enterprise Europe Network. This should help boost the efficiency and impact 
of innovation support schemes in Member States while reducing the burden on SMEs.  

The Enterprise Europe Network will also be invited to organise in 2009, in close cooperation 
with cluster organisations, an Innovation Awareness Campaign that will inform the business 
community, especially innovative SMEs, about existing support mechanisms, in particular for 
knowledge transfer and internationalisation.  

CONCLUSIONS 

Clusters play an important role in driving competitiveness, innovation and job creation in the 
EU. However, to fully reap the benefits of clusters, the EU should now step up its assistance 
to Member States and regions to promote excellence at all levels, and encourage cooperation 
across the EU in order to strive for more world-class clusters.  

Clusters  should  be  open,  flexible  and  attractive  to  the  best  talent  and  expertise  available 
worldwide.  Efforts  at  regional,  national  and  EU  level  should  facilitate  the  establishment  of 
closer and more efficient linkages between clusters as well as with leading research institutes 
within Europe and abroad. At the same time, cluster organisations are invited to improve their 
support services and better integrate innovative SMEs into clusters. 

This  Communication  aims  to  contribute  to  creating  a  more  efficient  framework  for  cluster 
support in the EU. 

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Such services should consider the recently adopted Commission Recommendation on the management 
of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and Code of Practice for universities and other 
public research organisations, C(2008) 1329, 10.4.2008. 

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Annex: The policy agenda in support of world-class clusters in the EU 

The Commission will:  

•  support Member States and regions in their efforts to improve their cluster policies, 
notably by providing objective information on clusters and cluster policies, as well as 
by facilitating policy learning across the EU; 

•  ensure  better  consistency  and  complementarities  between  different  Community 
instruments in support of clusters, in full compliance with the subsidiarity principle;  

•  establish  a  European  Cluster  Policy  Group  to  advise  the  Commission  and  Member 
States on possible strategic orientations for the emergence and growth of world-class 
clusters in Europe;  

•  encourage the development of a common European research and innovation space by 

facilitating practical trans-national cooperation between clusters; 

•  launch a European Pilot Initiative for Excellence of Cluster Organisations; 

•  improve  the  information  on  innovation  support  services  available  for  SMEs  offered 
by  cluster  organisations  in  Europe,  in  particular  through  the  European  Cluster 
Observatory and the Enterprise Europe Network;  

•  support, under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, the development of 

new or better tools to facilitate the participation of SMEs in innovative clusters; 

and invites the Member States to: 

•  fully  integrate  their  cluster  policies  into  the  competitiveness  pillar  of  the  National 
Reform Programmes, taking into account the EU dimension, and report on them; 

•  provide  better  support  for  SME  participation  in  clusters,  by  further  implementing 

the recommendations made in the Small Business Act; 

•  step  up  efforts  to  achieve  more  synergies  and  complementarities  between  different 

policies, programmes and initiatives in the area of cluster policy. 

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