The TCI  Policy Workshop 2024 took place in Linz, Austria, on 6-7 June, hosted by Business Upper Austria. We were pleased to have 28 cluster policy practitioners  from 11 different nationalities who actively contributed their experiences and insights during the meeting.

The workshop provided a valuable platform for knowledge sharing, best practice  discussions, and networking opportunities to foster collaboration, which follows the peer learning journey that we started two years ago in Bilbao, and took us to Barcelona last year.

Despite the diverse regional backgrounds represented, we always find that the main challenges  and objectives are quite similar:

• The importance of the strategic alignment of public and private sectors.
• Identifying the key actors within the ecosystem is crucial.
• It is essential for clusters to create value for their member, to facilitate  connections among them, and to encourage collaboration towards common goals.
• Cluster managers need the correct tools and skills to effectively engage with various ecosystem actors, aligning collective interests and adding genuine value for companies and local development administrations.
• Governments should recognize clusters as instrumental in program development, identification of new value chains, and as catalysts for the development of new value chains.

These are just some of the lessons learned from the meeting after a day and a half of presentations, group work, exchange of ideas, and a lot of conversation among the participants.

     “I think a really interesting  part has been hearing about to move from traditional policies to more  transformative cluster policies, and where we see ourselves in the different  countries and regions. I definitively learned a lot of that and I will take that  back with me besides getting to know people from all over and being able to  connect”. Mette Holm Linnet, Danish Agency for  High Education and Science.

     “I come to the TCI Cluster Policy Workshop to get the benefits of  the experience of many years of cluster practicing around the world”. Siobhan O'Carroll, Irish Department of  Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Looking ahead to next year, we  are open to receiving proposals for the organization of the next TCI Cluster  Policy Workshop in 2025. If you are interested in showcasing the trajectory of  your region's cluster strategy and learning from international best practices, contact us to become our  host for the 2025 edition.

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