The Clusters3 project partners meet for the 5th Interregional Workshop in Riga.This time the meeting combines with INTER-COMP-INNO Conference. INTER-COMP-INNO is an international conference with aim to explore advantages of cooperation to foster COMPetitiveness, INNOvation and INTERnationalization of small and medium enterprises (SME’s).

The conference is organized by the Ministry of Economics of The Republic of Latvia within the implementation of two independent projects: Interreg Europe project CLUSTERS3 “Leveraging Cluster Policies for successful implementation of RIS3” and ERDF “Competence center management project” and in cooperation with Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia.

During the conference, audience will have the opportunity to hear international and local experts trying to reveal the worth of cooperation for the promotion of competitiveness, innovation and internationalization of SME’s. Each of these topics is challenging, but the one of the solution keys is cooperation of SME’s e.g. within the clusters, competence centers, innovation networks, etc.

One of the main Keynote speakers of the conference will be Dr. Christian Ketels, member of the Harvard Business School faculty at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm School of Economics; President of TCI, and co-editor of the Competitiveness Review and Dr. Kaspar Nielsen, Internationalisation Manager at Cluster Excellence Denmark.

The aim of RIS3 strategy in Latvia is to transform economy towards the development of higher added value products, raising productivity and facilitating more effective use of resources. Competence Centre’s are the main actors to put the Strategy into effect.

INTER-COMP-INNO sessions
 

COMPetitiveness // 9:30-13:00 Room A

Main session is devoted to the competitiveness of SME’s promoted by cooperation within different collaboration networks - clusters. Promotion of SME’s competitiveness within different collaboration networks is affected by various policies, regional, industrial and specialization aspects as well as factors caused by global economic factors. Globalization spins the development trends in unnamed speed that makes competitiveness particularly challenging especially for the small and medium companies. How collaboration can help SME’s to overcome these challenges will be the main focus of the session and panel discussion.

INTERnationalisation // 13:50 Room B

Companies’ interaction with external markets is essential for development, export promotion and innovations, despite the size of the company. Cluster can offer various internationalization strategies with various degrees of the complexity. Content of the session will be focused on how the cluster organizations can match internationalization needs to the right instruments in order to promote SME’s competitiveness. Various experiences from all over the Europe will be presented by guests and local cluster managers.

INNOvation // 13:50 Room A

Promotion of innovations is conducive to increase the business competitiveness. Implementation of cooperation projects between research and industry sectors is crucial for the creation of new products and technologies with higher added value. Competence Centers, promoted by the ERDF investments is the main policy instrument for innovation promotion in Latvia. How collaboration and transfer of knowledge between small, medium and large enterprises affects the development of new innovate products will be the main focus of the session. Audience will be introduced with the current research projects and its results within the eight competence centers of Latvia.

During the conference audience, will have opportunity to experience two novelties:

POPUP Demo Center // 
To show innovation in practice conference visitors will have opportunity to learn more about the latest innovations created within Latvian competence centers and clusters. POPUP Demo Center concept will be presented for the first time and will gather large and small companies with latest innovation products to show.

Clash-ter Night // 
At the end of the conference for the first-time event called “Clash-ter night” will be carried out. It is always recommended to identify and learn from the best practices, but sometimes significant experiences are coming from lessons learned in a “hard way”. As Henry Ford, once has told “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” In a light atmosphere, with appetizers and refreshments several brave cluster managers will share their mistakes or in more precise words - best learnings.