21st TCI Network Global Conference (TCI 2018) brought cluster experts from across Canada and around the world to Toronto
October 18, 2018, Toronto, ON – This week, the 21st TCI Network Global Conference brought cluster experts from across Canada and around the world to Toronto for three days of collaboration. The conference was hosted by the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, an Ontario-based economic think tank, and presented by the TCI Network, a global network of leading cluster experts and practitioners.
“It was an honour to host TCI 2018,” says Jamison Steeve, Executive Director of the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity and Co-Chair of the Conference. “We were able to share the success stories of Canada, the Toronto Region, and our many clusters, and learn about best practices from around the world.”
With the theme of Collaborating to Compete: Cluster Policy in Action, TCI 2018 was a forum for knowledge exchange and partnership development between local and international cluster leaders. This year, delegates travelled from 37 countries to attend three unique days of programming that included 11 cluster immersion experiences around the Toronto Region, a day of keynotes and panels featuring world-renowned cluster experts, and more than 20 interactive breakout sessions that encouraged knowledge exchange. This was also the first time that the TCI Network Global Conference has offered Global Matchmaking with over 70 participants from 37 countries.
“The Institute was a wonderful host for TCI 2018, and Toronto has been a great inspiration to help our TCI members in their professional development and bring new ideas to advance in their economic development, says Merete Daniel Nielsen, President of the TCI Network and cofounder and Director of Cluster Excellence Denmark. “We will keep the spirit from Toronto for our conference next year that will take place the 8-10 October 2019 in Antwerp.”
Hosting and attending a TCI Network Global Conference in Toronto was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—this conference moves continents every year and never returns to the same city twice. Next year, the conference will take place in Antwerp, Belgium and will be hosted through a partnership between Invest in Flanders, Visit Flanders, and Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
To learn more about the conference, please visit www.tci2018.org and www.tci-network.org.
About the host
The Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity is an independent, not-for-profit organization that deepens public understanding of macro and microeconomic factors behind Ontario’s economic progress. It is funded by the Government of Ontario and are mandated to share our research findings directly with the public.
For nearly 18 years, the Institute has advocated for the development of strong clusters in the province of Ontario to close the prosperity gap between the province and its peer jurisdictions. It remains the only source for Canadian cluster data and is recognized for its focused work on clusters.
More information can be found on the Institute’s website: http://www.competeprosper.ca.
TCI Global Conferences
For two decades, the annual TCI Global Conference brings together experts in the field from around the globe and aim to be a forum to create progress in the practice of cluster development, regional competitiveness, and innovation support. The conferences are the meeting point for the TCI community and are open to members and non-members of TCI.
Since 1998, TCI has been received in outstanding cities and regions from the five continents, renowned for building competitiveness strategies from the strengths of their clusters and people: Barcelona (Spain), Varese (Italy), Glasgow (UK), Tucson (USA), Cairns (Australia), Gothenburg (Sweden), Ottawa (Canada), Hong Kong (China), Lyon (France), Portland (USA), Cape Town (South Africa), Jyväskylä (Finland), Delhi (India), Auckland (New Zealand), Basque Country (Spain), Kolding (Denmark), Monterrey (Mexico), Daegu (South Korea), Eindhoven (Netherlands), and Bogotá (Colombia).
For more information on the TCI Network’s conferences, please visit http://www.tcinetwork.org/conferences.
About TCI Network
TCI Network is the leading global network of more than 9,000+ main organizations and practitioners with deep expertise in clusters and competitiveness, who collaborate in a unique open, flexible and practical context to advance in the practice of competitiveness, innovation and cluster development. For more information on the TCI Network, please visit www.tcinetwork.org.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES CONTACT:
Margaret Campbell
m.campbell [at] competeprosper.ca (m[dot]campbell[at]competeprosper[dot]ca)