INNOvation and Development in clusteR excellence and cOoperative Partnerships

ended

The project “INNOvation and Development in clusteR excellence and cOoperative Partnerships” (INNO-DROP) is based on the ambition to strengthen cluster management excellence leading to sustainable long-term, cross-cluster and cross-border collaboration. The consortia is composed of four different European clusters from four different sectors as nano-, plasma-, sensor and membrane- and water technology which are directly involved in two COSME funded European Strategic Cluster Partnerships (AdPack and E’nW) and each of consortia member is from a different level of cluster excellence. Different skillsets, experiences, geographical origins and cultural background will give solid bases for creation of favourable ecosystem for knowledge sharing, mentoring and collaboration among project partners, their members and ESCPs and further leverage the project activities including dissemination of its results. Within the project lifetime, the non-labelled clusters will be analysed in order to define weaknesses about their management that will be further addressed by project activities leading to bronze labelling. Also specific needs of SMEs in all main strategic lines according to the preparatory documentation of ECEI will be assessed resulting in implementation of services supporting the competitiveness and internationalization of partners SMEs and their innovativeness mainly in the water industry sector and emerging industries. Project partners will jointly undertake a series of activities such as trainings, mentoring sessions, study visits and will identify together the best practices, processes and tools for supporting the labelling process. The information gathered and lessons learned will lead to creation of new services for SME, project publication, new/improved mid-term cluster strategies for each partner and a separate consolidated strategy for INNO-DROP based on individual strategies that will sustain the future collaboration of all partners beyond the project period.