Research Driven Clusters Initiative

International cluster cooperation offers opportunities to scale up research and technological potential, to enhance competitiveness and to support the regional development. These cooperation approaches often fail due to constraints on resources, capabilities, instruments and funding. In this respect we often see a mismatch between aspiration and capabilities.

On the other hand, about 2.000 clusters only in the European Union covering all sectors as well as corresponding clusters, networks and techno poles in the southern Mediterranean countries form a huge potential for transnational clustering. Having said this, we are fully aware of the different nature and development stages of clusters, techno poles and other cluster-like networks in the Euro-Mediterranean Innovation Space (EMIS). Nevertheless we see these differences not as a hindrance but as ratio for a targeted cluster activity.

Empirical evaluations proof that clusters are able to develop competitiveness, enhance innovation and contribute to productivity and job creation. Thus, clusters and cluster initiatives received an importance in economic activities as well as in innovation and research policies within the last 20 years while the concept of Michael E. Porter outlined in “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” marked an important milestone in the debate (Porter, 1990). As an “eclectic” concept it picks up various aspects from economics, economic geography, political sciences and system theory, for example. National as well as regional governments and the EU used the cluster approach to further develop their policies mainly in the fields of innovation, research and structural policy.

The EU’s framework for state aid defines innovative clusters in the following: ’Innovation clusters means groupings of independent undertakings — innovative start-ups, small, medium and large undertakings as well as research organisations — operating in a particular sector and region and designed to stimulate innovative activity by promoting intensive interactions, sharing of facilities and exchange of knowledge and expertise and by contributing effectively to technology transfer, networking and information dissemination among the undertakings in the cluster (See Community Framework for State Aid for Research and Development and Innovation (2006/C 323/01) of 30.12.2006).

The European Cluster Memorandum defines clusters as regional concentrations of specialised companies and institutions linked through multiple linkages and spill-overs, which provide an environment conducive to innovation (The High Level Advisory Group on Clusters: European Cluster Memorandum, p. 1.).

Notably France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden inaugurated cluster policies as an instrument to their portfolio of policies. The new EU-Member States integrated cluster policies and instruments right from the beginning in their policy portfolio from 2004 on. Recently, also Mediterranean Partner Countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco use elements of the cluster concept for some of their research and innovation policies and support the management of cluster initiatives (for example the techno pole approach in Tunisia).

The territorial coverage of clusters crosses administrative regional or national boundaries (for example in the fields of environmental pollution or biotechnology). In this respect international cluster initiatives like Medicon Valley (Sweden/Denmark) proof that these initiatives are able to operate across national boundaries. Having stated this, we argue that cluster and cluster initiatives operate successfully if they were demand/challenge driven and restrict the political influence to building the framework conditions.

The promotion and development of the Research Driven Cluster Initiative on Water and Waste Water Management in the Mediterranean is an appropriate approach to tackle the transnational problems of integrated water management and water pollution in the macro-region “Mediterranean”. This Cluster Initiative shall be perceived as one instrument in a portfolio of various approaches for the convergence of strategies of water management and de-pollution of the Mediterranean.