Evaluation Study of & Potential Follow-Up to Cluster Initiatives under COSME, H2020 & FPI

Several EU-supported cluster initiatives have been launched under the COSME and Horizon 2020 funding programmes to facilitate market entry and penetration for SMEs. In doing so, the projects are oriented towards networking, cooperation, and implementation strategies with a view to an intelligent, sustainable, and inclusive European Union. The initiatives of European cluster policy cover the following areas:

• enabling cluster collaboration,
• supporting cross-sectoral value chains,
• investment in cluster excellence.

The future strategic development of cluster policy projects is shaped, among other things, by the Regional Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation (RIS3).

The focus of EU clusters policy has shifted to facilitating industrial change and accelerating SME growth by:

• supporting networking among specialized ecosystems and clusters across Europe to foster industrial modernisation with a focus on the value chain,
• supporting more strategic and sustainable interregional cooperation in relation to the priorities of the specialisation of the regions,
• making greater use of cluster intermediaries to channel support to groups of SMEs and mobilise joint investment in smart specialisation across regional, sectoral, and technological borders,
• promoting SME support that includes not only innovation, but also general business development and capabilities, advanced manufacturing and technologies, digitalisation, resource efficiency and internationalisation.

The study will focus specifically on the evaluation and potential follow-up of the following initiatives:

1. European Strategic Cluster Partnerships (ESCP)
2. Cluster facilitated projects for new industrial value chains (InnoSup-I)
3. Low Carbon Business Actions in Brazil & Mexico
4. European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP)
5. European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Centre (EREK)
6. European Observatory for Clusters and Industrial Change (EOCIC)

Building on our expertise in working with regions and clusters in support of their Smart Specialisation Strategies through the Vanguard Initiative and the Smart Specialisation Platform, IDEA Consult is specifically overseeing the evaluation from the perspective of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) and the European Resource Efficiency Knowledge Centre (EREK). The study kicked off in March 2021 and will run until the summer 2021.