From 13th to 15th June 2022, the region of Castilla-La Mancha welcomed partners, stakeholders, and cluster experts from ClusterFY countries. This time, the University of Castilla-La Mancha hosted an event focused on how clusters are facing the pandemic era and how cluster policy instruments should be improved to help them in this new situation. During three days, partners and regional stakeholders had the opportunity to get an insight into the CLM ecosystem, its strengths, and potential. Moreover, during the Interregional Seminar, cluster experts from different organizations shared valuable clustering knowledge and experiences with the attendees.
The activities started on the afternoon of the 13th with a cultural walking tour in Chinchilla (Albacete). After an amazing activity, partners and stakeholders went to the welcome dinner in Parador de Albacete.
The next day, Tuesday 14th, the Science and Technology Park of Castilla-La Mancha in Albacete, hosted the conference entitled “Clusters: challenge accepted and tackled” which focused on how clusters are facing the pandemic era. The opening of the day was carried out by the vice-rector for Economy and Planning of the UCLM, Francisco José Sáez. He was accompanied by the Councilor for Innovation, Laura Avellaneda; the director of the Institute for Foreign Promotion of Castilla-La Mancha, Luis Noé; the coordinator of the ClusterFY Project, Rima Dijkstra; and the coordinator of this project in Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Carlos López. All welcomed ClusterFY partners to CLM Autonomous Community and explained how the region is building new ways of cooperation to foster sustainable growth and promote internationalization.
After the opening, José Manuel Leceta, Chief Innovation Officer at the Port Authority of Alicante and Former Director of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, began with the keynote talk "From systems to ecosystems: Global Innovation Clusters". After a short coffee break, the program continued with a panel discussion, moderated by Ángel Prieto, General Director of the European Business, and Innovation Centre of Albacete, in which good practices of clusters from Spain and Slovakia were presented: Martin Svoboda, Kosice IT Valley Cluster; Artur Bobovnický, Slovak Battery Cluster, Miguel Ángel Fernández, Castilla-La Mancha Hydrogen Cluster, and Iván Torres, Industrial Technology Cluster of Castilla-La Mancha. This panel was followed by an interactive discussion with the participants about how to improve cluster policy instruments to help clusters in this new situation.
Afterward, two research institutes from the University of Castilla-La Mancha; Emilio Gómez, from the Renewable Energy Research Institute, and Rafael Casado, the Research Institute of Informatics (I3A), explained to the audience their current situation and emphasized how collaboration activities are the key point to move forward in a global scenario.
Subsequently, the conference was closed encouraging the attendees to start new forms of cooperation to be active and competitive in a global economic and knowledge market. Continuing with the itinerary, in the afternoon partners and stakeholders enjoyed an interesting study visit to the Airbus Helicopter company, Albacete, which is the core of the Aeronautics cluster of Castilla-La Mancha. On the last day, Wednesday 15th, partners visited the facilities of the company Ajusa, a Spanish multinational in the automotive sector. It has recently embarked on a new line of research in Hydrogen Technologies, for which it has developed an autonomous department dedicated to Hydrogen Technologies activities. Once the activities finished, ClusterFY partners had a meeting to discuss the project´s issues and coming activities.
https://www.uclm.es/noticias/noticias2022/junio/albacete/clusterfy
Contact details:
Bárbara Marín Cambronero
Gestora de proyectos ARCO
Profesora asociada | Área de Econometría
Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
E. S. DE INFORMÁTICA | Ciudad Real
Tfno: 926052039 | [email protected]
