The new possibilities of cooperation between Slovak and Czech clusters, their certification at national level and the collaboration in mutual projects were topics of Stakeholder Meeting, which took place on November, 6, 2017 in Bratislava.
Representatives of industrial clusters, the Ministry of Economy and SIEA managers took part in the stakeholder meeting. These partners also participate in the national project “inovujme.sk”, which is focused on increasing the innovation efficiency of the Slovak economy,
The Czech partner was represented by cluster expert from Tomas Bata University in Zlín, Prof. Drahomíra Pavelková, who explained the Czech model of national cluster certification.
Clusters in the Czech Republic are divided in three categories: “early staged”, “developed” and “excellent” cluster. Based on this national categorization system Czech Republic applies a differentiated support. For example clusters in the category of excellence gain the greatest support, whereas the starting clusters only the resources needed for the operation.
Significant industrial clusters such as Košice IT Valley, National Energy Cluster, Zaict and Slovak plastic cluster have expressed their interest in international certification through the European Cluster Analysis Secretariat in 2018. At the same time they supported the idea of cluster certification at national level and international collaboration with Czech clusters.
“Geographical vicinity, common history, the same or related focus of clusters and comparable economic efficiency are important starting points for closer international cooperation between Slovak and Czech industrial clusters”, said the General Director of Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, Svetlana Gavorová.
