2018-eu-korea2_0

Description

The European Cluster Collaboration Platform organised a Cluster Matchmaking Event within the context of the European Utility Week on 6-8 November 2018 with a delegation from Korea to the EU, as well as opportunities for Intra-European matchmaking. The aim was to allow cluster organisations for information exchange and networking opportunities with counterparts from Korea and in parallel to present a platform for exchange among European cluster organisations.

The European Cluster Delegation was selected on the basis of their interest in engaging in cluster collaboration with Korea in industry sectors such as:

  • Cleantech
  • Smart city
  • Transport (electric mobility)
  • Enabling technologies used to develop innovations in clean energy products, services and solutions, such as lightweighting, composites, additive manufacturing, nanotechnology, ICT

The event gathered over 35 cluster participants and the matchmaking sessions allowed fruitful exchanges between the members of the EU-Korea delegation. Over 94 meetings were scheduled on the afternoon of the event, and among them 39 meetings between European and Korean participants.

The Korean Delegation visit to the EU and matchmaking event sought to support cluster cooperation for strategic business partnerships building upon the Administrative Arrangement signed on Cluster Cooperation by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation of the Republic of Korea and the European Commission's DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH) in May 2018.

Testimonials from the participants to the event:

"I had the opportunity to participate to the Eu-Korea matchmaking event in vienna. The event was perfectly organized, from the matchmaking sessions thanks to B2match... to the site visit with an interresting overview of an Energy competence center. I expect at least 25% of my exchanges to turn into future clusters collaborations". - Thomas Colombeau, ALPHA-Route des Lasers & des Hyperfréquences

“The event was well focused. The double approach of an intra-European together with the international focus to Korea was appreciated. There are some opportunities identified during the different bilateral comments with the Korean counterparts where the domain of batteries, well represented by the Korean delegation was of a great value. The model presented by the Korean Polytechnic University, which is operational within an industrial complex, gave ideas for an Erasmus type of cooperation which is to be further explored.” - Vincent Civita, Aria Normandie

“This was a great matchmaking, with great guests from Korea and hosting by the ECCP. Clusters are platforms in constant need to explore possibilities for cooperation and internationalisation, as well as exchanging experiences, knowledge, ideas and information. One interesting opportunity was identified in the battery domain and will be further explored." - Mladen Perkov, Inteligentna Energija

"In my opinion, the Korean delegates had done their homework well. They had basic knowledge on our cluster and knew what they wanted. The event provided an overview of the Korean market for our cluster companies and organisations. In addition to this, the Koreans were interested in visiting us in Finland in March 2019 to learn more about our technologies and cooperation possibilities."

- Triinu Varblane, Oy Merinova Ab

“The Korean delegation might not be the perfect match for immediate results. However this was a great first contact opportunity giving a good overview of the Korean landscape. Maybe additional stakeholders like business associations could add more concrete results and provide chances for more advanced discussions closer to agreements.” - José I. Hormaeche, Basque Energy Cluster

“The event was very new to Korean participants in that the cluster managers of similar sectors from different countries interact face to face. As the Korean participants from the public agencies are involved in the regional business networks, we were impressed by the European participants who enthusiastically represent their networks. They knew what their clusters need from the Asian counterparts and showed how we could manage the matchmaking events more effectively. As a concrete step to initiate the Korea-EU cluster cooperation, the 1st meeting with the EU counterparts in Vienna is the perfect beginning to explore more for the cluster exchanges. The differences of cluster development models in Korea and the EU suggest that there are many potential opportunities for the future cluster cooperation.” Jeonghee YUN, Assistant Manager, KICOX, Korea Industrial Complex Corporation

The 1st EU-Korea Cluster Matchmaking event was fantastic and I was happy about participating in this event. Especially, it was really good that the matchmaking event was held at the place together with European Utility Week which gave us many helpful industry trends and information to see and think about for our related industry. If possible, I hope each cluster can participate in the next event together with the companies of the engaged sectors for the business or R&D collaboration, so that the meeting will be more fruitful for each other.” Seungho YOON, Energy Valley, Gwangju Technopark

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