The Spanish Clusters met on Thursday 19th September at their VII Congress, convened by Clusters.es, the National Federation of Innovative Business Groups and Clusters, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

Antonio Novo, President of Clusters.es and Raúl Blanco, Secretary General of Industry and SMEs, opened a day that counted with the special participation of Eva Revilla (European Commission) for the review of Clusters strategic priorities in Europe 2020 and Jordi Llinares (Deputy Director General of Digitalization of Industry and Collaborative Environments), who explained the progress in the 2020 AEI program.

The Congress had high-level presentations: David Bellido (Coordinator of Youth Guarantee, SEPE) introduced the Youth Guarantee Program funded by the European Union and the Youth Employment Shock Plan approved by the Government of Spain, which generate opportunities for clusters to find the human talent they need in their organizations, supported by Antonio Alcántara (OnTech) and Tomas Iriondo (GAIA).

Cristina Moneo (SG of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities) presented the Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology and Innovation 2021-2027, followed by the presentation "CDTI Programs to contribute from Clusters", in which Pilar Gonzalez Gotor (Head of the Department of Institutional Promotion and Territorial Cooperation, CDTI), Xavier Amores (CWP) and Juan Díaz (ASINCAR), stressed the importance of the role of the CDTI in R&D&I and the development of clusters nationally and internationally.

Patricia Valdenebro (TCI Network) presented some of the new trends and practices identified that are affecting clusters globally, proposing some key measures to increase the impact of clusters in Europe while Yvonne Flores (Transfiere Forum) presented the 9th edition of Transfiere as the international forum for clusters and the different forms of participation in it.

Antonio Novo (Clusters.es) summarized the intense work carried out by the Federation, having participated in initiatives such as the creation of the new legal entity that will manage European quality labels for clusters, the birth of the European Cluster Alliance and the presence of Antonio Novo in the Cluster Expert Group of the European Commission, among others. He also stressed the idea pointed out by some speakers that business growth is necessary and one of the most powerful tools for this is the collaborative innovation developed by the clusters.

During the presentation track there was an Elevator Pitch in which the attendees had the opportunity to listen to the 2020 collaborative project proposals.

The Secretary General of Industry and SMEs, Raúl Blanco, presented the awards to five categories in recognition of their excellence:

• The Prize for the "Most Effective Political Action" went to the Basque Government and was collected by the Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness, Estíbaliz Hernáez.
• The “Most Innovative Cluster” Prize went to HABIC (Smart Habitat) and was awarded jointly by the General Director of Industry of the Government of Navarra, Izaskun Goñi, and Deputy Minister Estíbaliz Hernáez.
• Xavier Amores and Tomás Iriondo received the “Best Collaborative Project” Award.
• Daniel Rueda, director of the Automotive Cluster of La Rioja received the “Best disseminated project” award for supporting SMEs and Entrepreneurship.
• The “Innovation in Communication” Prize went to “El Economista” media.

The general assembly of the federation renewed the office of president to Antonio Novo for the upcoming period of two years.

Antonio Novo and Galo Gutiérrez Monzonís (General Director of Industry and SMEs Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce) made the wrap-up of the event and closing of the day.

Website: http://congreso2019.clusters.es

Contact:  Antonio Novo, President of Clusters.es                 presidente [at] fenaeic.org                 650410080

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