04 October 2000 | 06 October 2000 | United Kingdom

The third TCI Global Conference was an excellent event for discussing and exploring how the coming decade can change the role of industrial clusters in achieving competitiveness. Hosted by Scottish Enterprise, the national economic development agency of Scotland, the two-day conference brought together people from government, industry, development agencies and academia to debate about three inter-related themes: the drivers of economic change and their impact on competitive advantage, the implications for cluster policy and economic development as well as the strategic responses of the public and private sectors.

The different sessions revolved around the idea of how to use the new tools in the new era and continue with same objectives, focusing on the use of the internet as a way to improve speed in communication among industries and reducing transactions costs.

Achieving competitiveness in the coming decade was another main subject that was discussed in the conference. The attendees centered the debate in the ability of clusters to cope with the change, the role of innovation and clusters in the future and the infrastructure requirements for the future.

Also, they contemplated the role of public sectors on the cluster development and which political and economic shocks could affect clusters next decade.

The event was a great opportunity to share and compare experiences and skills among clusters developers, academics and policy makers to define the tendences for the future. The conference agreed that the main challenge for the new millennium was the Internet and its implication in the clusters world in areas like the e-business or the governance.