NEWS ARCHIVE

27-28 November 2017, Lisbon (Portugal)

The conference aims to boost social innovation in Europe because social innovation is a good, cost-effective way to advance inclusive and wealth-creating public policies, by developing a new narrative and giving this new narrative the means to take root, grow, blossom and bear fruit.

Who: The event seeks to bring together world-class scientists in the area of social innovation, innovators, social entrepreneurs, civil society representatives, national and regional policy makers, municipal and city level actors, social innovation funders, philanthropists, venture capitalists, business angels, students, and politicians.

How: The conference will be structured in the following manner:

• Taking stock of social innovation achievements

• Identifying potential future opportunities brought by social innovation not only in terms of societal well-being, but also of growth, jobs, and business development for Europe

• Reviewing new trends in social innovation

• Examining the possible role of social innovation in the next generation of public policies

• Exploring funding instruments

Learn more and register here.

The TCI Network’s 20th Anniversary Global Conference 2017 will be held in Bogota, Colombia on 7-9 November 2017 on the theme of „The future of clusters through cross-country & cross-region collaboration“.

Hosted by TCI member Bogota Chamber of Commerce, the conference will focus on collaboration and complementarity alliances between developed and developing countries for better policies, better business, and better management practices. Identifying cluster emerging trends.

Registration is open now: http://www.tci2017.org/Registration

Next application round for IT and biopharma SMEs has started: until October 10, 2017 interested companies can apply for PERMIDES vouchers. It is important that the applicants fall under the definition of the EU for small and medium-sized enterprises and want to develop an innovative IT solution for problems in the biopharmaceutical value chain.

To apply for funding, visit: http://permides.eu

Next Application Deadline October 10th 2017

Two months after the start of the first round of applications, it becomes apparent that the project which is funded by the European Union in the Horizon 2020 program is of great interest to both the biopharma and the IT sector. With the first cut-off date in mid-May, a total of 46 applicationswith an overall volume of more than € 2.5 mio have been submitted for innovation projects, each project involving a biopharmaceutical SME and at least one IT SME. 22 of these 46 applications have been awarded for funding with an overall funding amount of more than € 1.25 mio (funded innovation projects). In this first application round, project proposals were submitted for e.g. the development of intelligently networked sensors for special therapies, innovative interfaces for medical wearables, as well as novel computer-based methods for cancer research.

Next application round for IT and biopharma SMEs has started: until October 10, 2017 interested companies can apply for PERMIDES vouchers. It is important that the applicants fall under the definition of the EU for small and medium-sized enterprises and want to develop an innovative IT solution for problems in the biopharmaceutical value chain.

To apply for funding, visit: http://permides.eu

URBAN INNO project (Interreg CE) addresses the challenge of making central Europe more innovative and competitive by maximising the innovation potential of smaller and medium sized urban ecosystems.

With the aim to implement participative urban environments where the innovation performance will substantially improve, first URBAN INNO pilot activities have involved actively citizens in Karlsruhe (Germany) and Trento (Italy).

The URBAN INNO Karlsruhe Pilot deals with the topic ‘eBikes & Energy’ and the Karlsruhe Pilot Team was actively present at the FahrradFestival (Bicycle Festival) in Karlsruhe. At this event, the Karlsruhe Pilot Team started with testing a a crowd sourcing approach, which aims to ‘customize’ an existing GIS software in order to use the functionalities for citizens participation related to energy issues of eBikes and to provide it to citizens for testing purposes.

The URBAN INNO Trento Pilot deals with the topic of ‘Innovative Government‘, in particular, how to engage citizens in the development of an innovative government process/service, by testing participatory methods which ensure the direct involvement of the citizens in the Trento urban area. Citizens have been already involved twice. The „young citizens“ group gathered together with the goal to design a feasible project for the „better neighborhood“. On the other side ideas were collected within a co-design laboratory with civil organisation to better usage of empty spaces in the neighborhood.

More about URBAN INNO Project: http://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/URBAN-INNO.html

For the 5th time BSR Stars hosts the Cluster Matchmaking Conference. The Cluster Matchmaking Conference offers excellent matchmaking opportunities with Europe’s leading cluster organisations, lots of networking opportunities and a thrilling interactive programme in a vibrant and learning atmosphere.

Please find out more at:https://www.b2match.eu/cluster-matchmaking-2017

June 5-6th, Opatija, Croatia

FORESDA (Interreg Danube) project was presented at the 14th Wood-Technology Conference by Ms. Tamara Högler – Head of Innovations and International Affairs at CyberForum e.V, as lead partner of the project. The conference took place on the 5th and 6th of June, in Opatija, Croatia and is the traditional annual gathering of wood‐processing industry in Croatia and  southeast Europe.
The presentation of excellent export results, continuous development of new products, as well as the successful participation in different national and the EU funding schemes over the past 15 years, ensured the presence of over 350 industry representatives and a number of important political and institutional stakeholders.

Read more about the event at: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/news-and-events/project-news/794

Prepare your innovation project proposal before October 10th, 2017

Thirty-three European SMEs gathered in Heidelberg’s Technologiepark (Germany) on July 12th 2017, for a compact and highly efficient PERMIDES Matchmaking Lunch. Biopharma, bioinformatics and IT companies from 12 European countries gave 1-min pitches introducing their company, core expertise and needs to attract the right partners for the 1:1-matchmaking part following the presentations. The participants had a busy matchmaking agenda, and many of them continued their discussions for more than 1 hour after the end of the meeting. All in all, the event featured a total of 66 pre-booked matchmaking meetings complemented by active networking and discussions among the participants.

Kai Gräber, PERMIDES Project Manager for the Ci3 Cluster added: “It was very motivating to hear that the participants highly appreciated the unique partnering and funding opportunities PERMIDES offers, and we welcomed their suggestions for the next phase of the project. The success of the event is also due to the excellent collaboration with the local partners EIT Health Germany, Technologiepark Heidelberg, Heidelberg Startup Partners, the BioRN cluster as well as SAP’s Innowerft.”

Upcoming Digital Healt Forum in Innsbruck (Austria – October 2nd 2017) and within the BIO-Europe Conference in Berlin (Germany – November 8th 2017).

Join the PERMIDES platform to connect with partnering SMEs and prepare your Next Apllication(deadline October 10th 2017)!

Two months after the start of the first round of applications the project consortium was able to present a positive picture: the PERMIDES project which is funded by the European Union under the Framework Programme Horizon 2020 has aroused great interest from both the biopharmaceutics and IT branches. By the first deadline in mid-May 45 applications for innovative projects each involving one biopharma SME and at least one IT SME and with budgets amounting to EUR 2.5 m had been received. At the same time, consultancy vouchers totalling approximately EUR 40,000 and travel vouchers for selected matchmaking events with a total value of almost EUR 40,000 had been issued.

Eight partners including six leading biopharma and IT clusters from Germany, Austria and Norway are cooperating on the PERMIDES project with a view to supporting the digitalization of the biopharma sector. PERMIDES has a total budget of EUR 4.8 million and is scheduled to run until 31 August 2018. Further applications for innovation projects can be submitted with immediate effect. The next deadline for applications is 31 August 2017. These deadlines do not apply to applications for consultancy or travel vouchers which can be submitted at any time.

To apply for funding, visit: http://permides.eu

PERMIDES is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement Number 691546.

The European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), in collaboration with the European Commission, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and Silicon Europe Worldwide, will organise an EU-Taiwan Cluster Matchmaking Event, taking place on the 26th and 27th of June 2017 in Brussels (Belgium), in the context of the 3rd EU-Taiwan Industry Dialogue. The aim of the Event is to foster cooperation between European and Taiwanese clusters and business associations.

This call for expression of interest is launched to identify a European delegation composed of representatives of cluster organisations from technology fields in support of the following areas:

• 5G (5th Generation Wireless Systems)
• Circular Economy
• Smart Industry
If you want to participate, follow the instructions at https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/news/eu-taiwan-cluster-matchmaking-event-2017

Bled eConference has been shaping electronic interactions since 1988. It attracts speakers and delegates from business, government, information technology providers and universities and is the major venue for researchers working in all aspects of “e”.

With fresh ideas and complementary themes the conference wants to establish a creative environment for researchers, government, industry/business representatives and technology providers and an attractive meeting point for discussing new R&D and project ideas, also in the spirit of new Horizon 2020.

Find more about it here!

The voucher funding scheme of PERMIDES is aimed at SMEs from the biopharmaceutical sector developing novel personalized medicine products and solutions (e.g. biotech/medtech companies, diagnostics companies, CROs, biobank companies, bioinformatic companies). Only biopharma SMEs, together with IT SMEs, according to the EU definition and established in one of the EU Member States or Associated Countries can submit the proposals for funding provided by PERMIDES. To be eligible for funding, project teams need to consist of one biopharma SME as main applicant/beneficiary and at least one IT SME as service provider. Potential project team partners can be found e.g. via the PERMIDES platform offering the need-vs-expertise-based matchmaking of companies from the biopharmaceutical and IT sector.  Biopharma SMEs can avail benefits from this call for obtaining vouchers up to a maximum of € 60,000. IT SMEs can collaborate with various biopharma SMEs in multiple projects, and are not affected by € 60,000 limit. Please note that biopharma SMEs are the beneficiaries of the innovation projects and the costs involved in providing the services by IT SMEs will be funded and paid to IT SMEs by PERMIDES.

Interested biopharma and IT SMEs can apply now:

http://permides.eu/apply-now/

With the semantic matchmaking platform the biopharmaceutical SME and the ICT partner can jointly tackle an innovation barrier in the value chain using innovation vouchers valued up to60,000 €. Descriptions of the vouchers can be found here: http://www.clustercollaboration.eu/profile-articles/funding-biopharma-smes-60keu

May 7-9, 2017, Brighton, UK

The mobileGov World Summit 2017 took place May 7-9, 2017 in Brighton (UK) and aimed at gathering mobile Government ICT professionals from all over the world. Representatives of Mobile Industry, Public Sector, NGOs, and Academia joined this event to discuss and share achievements and challenges of mobile government of the last decade. High level public sector delegations from best performing countries, including Korea, UAE, India and Colombia, just to name a few, shared their experiences and lessons learned in utilizing mobile technologies in public sector. Topics addressed were amongst others information security, challenges and opportunities of the Internet of Things systems and development of artificial intelligence for mobile government solutions. Tamara Högler presented Urban Inno as an example for the importance of citizens´ involvement in innovation processes with focus on Smart Cities.

Next Application Deadline October 10th 2017

Two months after the start of the first round of applications, it becomes apparent that the project which is funded by the European Union in the Horizon 2020 program is of great interest to both the biopharma and the IT sector. With the first cut-off date in mid-May, a total of 46 applicationswith an overall volume of more than € 2.5 mio have been submitted for innovation projects, each project involving a biopharmaceutical SME and at least one IT SME. 22 of these 46 applications have been awarded for funding with an overall funding amount of more than € 1.25 mio (funded innovation projects). In this first application round, project proposals were submitted for e.g. the development of intelligently networked sensors for special therapies, innovative interfaces for medical wearables, as well as novel computer-based methods for cancer research.

Next application round for IT and biopharma SMEs has started: until October 10, 2017 interested companies can apply for PERMIDES vouchers. It is important that the applicants fall under the definition of the EU for small and medium-sized enterprises and want to develop an innovative IT solution for problems in the biopharmaceutical value chain.

To apply for funding, visit: http://permides.eu

The main objective of the action is to intensify cluster and business network collaboration across European countries and also across sectorial boundaries and to support the establishment of European Strategic Cluster Partnerships to lead international cluster cooperation in fields of strategic interest towards third countries beyond Europe and notably in support of the development of emerging industries.

The present call for proposals is targeting actions for two phases, divided in three Strands. Applicant consortia can submit proposals for one Strand only and applicant organisations can be part of maximum one consortium per Phase.

Please find out more at: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/cos-cluster-2014-3-03-cluster-go-international

The International Conference on Open Innovation 2.0 was established 4 years ago and it has been held in Ireland, Finland and The Netherlands. The OI2 Conference has been attended by innovation experts, policy-makers, academic scholars, practitioners and individuals who are engaged in various aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The fifth edition of the Open Innovation 2.0 Conference conference was held in the picturesque city of Cluj-Napoca in the heart of the Romanian Transylvania region (13th -14th  June 2017). The city has developed as a strong IT and innovation ecosystem with 11 Universities and several innovation and technology parks.

Luxembourg City, May 9-10, 2017

ICT Spring is a Global Tech Conference hosting an array of International Professionals. This two-day yearly event is held in Luxembourg City, at the heart of Europe, and offers the participants a unique opportunity to deepen their Digital Knowledge, capture the Value of the fast-growing FinTech Industry, and explore the impact of Space Technologies on Terrestrial Businesses, through exhibitions and demonstrations of the latest Tech Trends and Innovations. ICT Spring is also the perfect place to network with peers and future business partners.

For more information: www.ictspring.com

Paris, June 8-10, 2017

As the largest free and open meeting on innovation in Europe, Futur en Seine is the only event that combines business meetings, pitches, demo show, prospective conferences, kids activities, mind-blowing experiences and parties.
During 4 days at the very heart of Paris, Futur en Seine mixes up major digital players, the crème de la crème of youth entrepreneurship and game-changers, creative developers. With more than 30 000 participants each year, the festival celebrates innovation of all kind with energy and ideas coming from around the world.

For further information please visit: www.futur-en-seine.paris/

For the first time, a nationwide cluster week will be organized on the initiative of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing in the period from 20-28 April, 2017. The Federal Minister for Education and Research Johanna Wanka and the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel have taken over the patronage. The federal states will actively participate in the implementation.
The Cluster Week aims to present the diversity and strength of the German cluster landscape. Regional cluster activities are presented under one umbrella. The Cluster Week will be opened with the annual conference of the „go-cluster“-programme on 20 April, 2017 at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Berlin.

Find more about it here!

Tamara Högler, coordinator of the Business Roaming Agreement, was certified as cluster expert by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA). ESCA is a network of cluster experts from more than 30 countries.

Cluster benchmarking interviews are conducted by specifically trained ESCA benchmarking experts. After theoretic and practical training the experts have basic background knowledge on the ECEI methodology and are able to conduct the benchmarking interviews and to discuss the results with the benchmarked cluster organisation.

Each expert has been working with cluster organisations for several years and has a thorough knowledge about management systems and approaches.

Find out more about the ESCA experts at www.cluster-analysis.org/

The project FORESDA – Forest based cross-sectoral value chains fostering innovation and competitiveness in the Danube Region – was officially launched 6-7th of March 2017 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The official kick-off meeting took place on Tuesday, 7th of March, at the Slovenian Forestry Institute. The event was dedicated to a broad audience, and approached a series of interesting topics. The meeting started with the welcome speeches of Mr. Igor Milavec, director of CCIS – Wood Processing and Furniture Association, Mr. Miha Humar, dean of UL Biotechnical Faculty, Mr. Primož Simončič, director of Slovenian Forestry Institute.

Mrs. Tamara Högler – Head of Innovation and International Affairs at CyberForum e.V, lead partner presented the FORESDA project, offering the audience an insight into the activities planned and the main outputs of FORESDA, mainly increasing innovation potential of the traditional wood sector.

Pictures about the event are available in the ‚Gallery‘ menu of our webpage, on our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/foresda/ and twitter: https://twitter.com/foresda_eu_dtp

This last October, Cluj IT Cluster has been audited by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) as part of the Silver labeling process. We are proud to announce that on the 22nd of October 2016 ESCA has awarded this label to our member organization which positions Cluj IT Cluster among an elite class of cluster across the world. It is a recognition of the efforts they are putting in developing relevant services for their members.

Launched at The Competitiveness Institute’s (TCI Network) 2016 Global Conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands, the Handbook provides practical guidance for experienced cluster practitioners, those new to cluster development and for policy agencies.

The author, Ifor Ffowcs-Williams, is a Founder and Past President of the TCI Network and CEO, Cluster Navigators Ltd, New Zealand. This reference book is based on Ifor’s two decades of hands-on experience with hundreds of clusters.

Find out details here!

The fifth edition of the European Cluster Conference will be an inspiring event not to be missed by policy-makers from national and regional authorities involved or interested in cluster policies and cluster practitioners.

This year’s conference will focus on Cluster 4.0 – Shaping Smart Industries and include high-level plenary speeches, panel discussions and interactive sessions where participants will have the chance to share their experiences and challenges.

Tamara Högler, Head of Innovations and International Affairs at CyberForum e.V. and coordinator of the Business Roaming Agreement, was invited to the conference to share the experience within the H2020 InnoSup Project „PERMIDES“ in the session „Cluster facilitating new cross-sectoral value chains/Service innovation and the creative economy“.

Register now – places are limited!

Through the „learning-by-doing“ approach (presentations with tips and examples and practical and interactive workshops), obtain the essential hands-on knowledge and skills to transform your innovative project ideas into competitive project proposals in response to calls under Horizon 2020.

Actual project managers and coordinators will moderate practical workshops, sharing their experiences with successful and unsuccessful proposals, addressing all aspects of developing competitive proposals under Horizon 2020.

Learn more here!

Budapest, Hungary / November 21, 2016

Smart Solutions for Socially Relevant Innovations in Visegrad Four Regions

Surfing the digital waves opens new opportunities and also accelerate positive effects to the society and economy. How can create businesses a real value from this new age of the Internet? Does it mean brand new products and services by using smart solutions? What kind of new business models are generated by Industry 4.0? Is being always connected a big challenge for the customers? How can citizens improve their performance in digitalised world?

The Society – ICT – Economy  – Industry 4.0 international conference tried to give answers for these questions.

For more information: innoskart.eu/en/v4mula

Eindhoven, The Netherlands / November 8 – 10, 2016

The TCI Network is the leading global network of main organisations and practitioners with deep expertise in clusters and competitiveness, and reaches out to 9,000 practitioners from development agencies, government departments, cluster organizations, academic institutions, companies and multilateral organizations in over 110 countries.

Tamara Högler, Head of Innovations and International Affairs at CyberForum e.V. and coordinator of the Business Roaming Agreement, presented „Clusters as Drivers for Innovation in Smart Cities – A Best Practice”, including the recently started URBAN INNO Project.

Warsaw, Poland / September 19 – 20, 2016

What to expect: Excellent matchmaking opportunities with Europe’s leading cluster organisations; Lot’s of networking opportunities; a thrilling interactive program and a vibrant atmosphere.

Focus

• Meet clusters (and SME networks) from all over Europe;
• Scout for cluster partners for joint development projects;
• Gain knowledge about international clusters, their areas of specialisation and strategy;
• Discover new opportunities for cross cluster collaboration;
• Present, discuss and develop new project ideas with other clusters.

For more information: www.b2match.eu/cluster-matchmaking-2016

Taipei, Taiwan / May 30 – June 1, 2016

An ICT-focused cluster matchmaking event took place during the European Innovation Week in Taipei (Taiwan) from the 30th of May to the 1st of June of 2016. The Cluster Matchmaking Event coincided with the COMPUTEX Fair.

Learn more about the event at: www.clustercollaboration.eu/event-calendar/european-asian-cluster-matchmaking-event-opportunity-ict-clusters

Cluj-Napoca, Romania / June 23 – 24, 2016

TCI Network is one of the supporting organizations of the Transylvanian Cluster Conference held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on 23-24 June and organized by the Northern Tranylvanian Clusters Consortium. The event focused on the importance of open innovation within clusters.

The International Conference of Clusters from Northern Transylvania is an annual event that resulted from the necessity of creating joint innovative projects, with a major impact on the community, but also on the industries that the member entities are a part of. The conference reunited more than 250 participants from Romania and abroad, and they had the occasion to discuss or to initiate new projects, within the matchmaking sessions, the objective being for the event to end with at least 5 practical initiatives.

The event is an initiative of the Consortium of Clusters from Northern Transylvania, and it reunites more than 260 entities from the business environment, research and development, and public authorities. The companies represented by these clusters have more than 18.000 employees and  a cumulated turnover of more than 1,3 billion Euros.

Conference sub-themes:

• IT&C and Creative industries
• Energy efficiency
• Agrobusiness
• Innovation in the furniture industry
• New materials and technology

For more information: http://transylvanianclusters.ro/

Bled, Slovenia / June 21, 2016

The workshop and conference was organised by CyberForum. Besides some very interesting presentations related to project results „external speakers“ were invited on topics like „The role of clusters in innovation“).

The UPSIDE Final Conference took place in the framework of the Bled eConference entitled „Digital Economy“. This conference included also an Internet of Things conference named „Living Bits & Things“ (June 20th) and the Final Conference of the Be Wiser project “Clusters and Cybersecurity – Be Wiser outlines Europe’s Cybersecurity Challenges” (June 22nd).

Brussels, Belgium / June 1-2, 2016

 

Regions across the European Union have developed their national or regional innovation strategies for smart specialisation. They provide a strategic framework for the innovation-driven economic transformation of European regions and set out the main priorities for investments. They address emerging opportunities and market developments in order to build a competitive advantage by developing and matching research and innovation strengths to business needs. European Structural Investment Funds are the main financing source.

This High-Level Event will highlight the key role of regions in developing new growth dynamics for Europe, based on bottom-up entrepreneurship and innovation. It will mark the mobilisation of this potential for transformation in priority areas, e.g. energy transition, digital growth, circular economy, agro-food or industrial modernisation. Smart specialisation strategies can leverage numerous new growth opportunities for all regions, when aligning their business driven smart specialisation investments in new European value chains. The High-Level Event will accelerate the set-up of effective partnerships for co-investing across regions that commit to their smart specialisation priorities. It will show a way forward in using the synergies between the different public and private funding mechanism to support such investment dynamics.

You’ll find further information unter the following link:  http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/conferences/smart-regions/

URBAN INNO addresses the challenge of making central Europe more innovative and competitive by maximising the innovation potential of smaller and medium sized urban ecosystems. A significantly better linkage of actors within urban innovation ecosystems (public authorities, research organizations, industry as well as end-users respectively customers and citizens) is needed for a better use of innovation potentials. Public and private sectors recognise that there is especially a significant gap in the field of participation in innovation processes from people as citizens and as users and customers. Many smart solutions, technologies and services are not used widely because of the lack of knowledge and motivation or acceptance of end-users.

You’ll find further information under the following link: http://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/URBAN-INNO.html 

Stockholm, Sweden – April 27, 2016

Visit Stockholm and take the opportunity to meet potential partners for collaboration, broaden your global network and identify new innovations to your organization!

 

The Matchmaking takes place on Wednesday April 27th, between 11:00 and 16:00, and is arranged by Enterprise Europe Network.
Participants sit down in pre-arranged one-on-one meetings for discussing project set-ups and collaborations.

More information: https://www.b2match.eu/eurekainnovation2016