ACCELERATE GDT officially kicks off in Cork
Munster Technological University and associate Partner the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE), hosted representatives from 7 partners for the official launch of the Interreg Europe funded project ACCELERATE GDT on the 27th and 28th of April. The purpose of ACCELERATE GDT is to reinvent national and regional cluster policies to support the twin green and digital transitions and SMEs competitiveness.
The project starts at a great time for Ireland as the White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030 was published in December 2022. This sets out Ireland`s industrial policy for the medium to long-term, building on Ireland`s economic strengths of an open economy with strong trade and foreign direct investment, a vibrant innovation hub, and a resilient labour market. Of the seven priority areas defined in the White Paper – three are central to ACCELERATE GDT’s aims – Decarbonisation, Digitalisation, and the enhanced role for Clustering as a part of enterprise policy toolkit. Sharing best practices with colleagues across the EU can ensure Irish polices line up with those that are best in class across Europe and have an impact on supporting industry from their implementation.
Michael Loftus, VP of External Engagement, MTU, welcomed the project partners gathered in MTU Cork on April 27th. Partners met for the first-time face to face, network, connect and outline their clustering experiences. It was fascinating to learn more about the 30 years of cluster policy in Catalonia; cluster initiatives in Turin; cluster management organisations from Vienna; the national cluster programme in Budapest; cluster evaluation in Prague; and how colleagues from Duisburg are focused on integrating green transition supports through cooperation projects for their heavily industrialised region.
The consortium were treated to an in depth introduction to the Irish Cluster Ecosystem with interventions from Prof. Eleanor Doyle, UCC, who presented ‘Clustering on the Island of Ireland: A Gap Analysis’ which identifies areas of critical support to clustering for Ireland. Gillian Slattery, explained the ‘Regional Technology Cluster Fund’ EI’s cluster support and development programme; Dr Eoin Byrne, Cluster Manager, Cyber Ireland, explained how Cyber Ireland has developed since 2017, and finally, Siobhan O'Carroll, DETE, spoke to the centralised national policy in development for Ireland.
On Friday the 28th of April ACCELERATEG GDT was officially launched. Gerard O’Donovan, Head of Faculty of Business and Humanities and Caoimhe Gavin, Principal Officer Enterprise, DETE officially launched the project, welcoming the partners and a group of 45 stakeholders all of whom play a role within the Irish Enterprise and Clustering landscape. Dr John Hobbs, V-LINC research group MTU provided background on the project, its aims, and goals. Dr Hobbs believes “the key benefit of the ACCELERATE GDT project is the ability to collaborate with our international partners, meet them face to face during the project and learn from their experiences and let them benefit through ours – that is how real learning occurs. The project, is a great opportunity for partners and stakeholders to share, understand and visit twin transition initiatives, and allow our consortium to have more impact in enhancing our cluster policies.”
The launch benefited through the excellent interventions of international expert speakers on the future for EU Cluster Policies. The keynotes were provided by Dr James Wilson, Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, and Mr Alberto Pezzi, ACCIÓ.
The impact of the project is multiplied with the addition of TCI Network as project management support for the ACCELERATE GDT partnership. TCI provides great opportunities for collaborations with cluster practitioners from policy, industry, and academia right across the globe. Claudia Soncin, Network Co-ordinator at TCI believes “the support of Interreg Europe in funding ACCLERATE GDT is extremely proactive and progressive as many countries across Europe and Internationally are utilising their cluster and RIS3 policies to bring government supports closer to meeting industry needs, increasing collaboration and tackling big social challenges such as the twin transition. TCI are delighted to be involved and supporting the project, we are looking forward to sharing ACCELERATE GDT leanings across Europe and Internationally.”
Whilst visiting Cork the partners were able also to relax and sample some excellent Irish cuisine and local atmosphere with visits to the Strasbourg Goose, White Horse and Doreen’s Bakery and an outstanding traditional Irish music performance from the excellent Eoin Coughlan and Tommie Cunniffe.