Since March 2017, Prof. Juan Carlos López (UCLM), project leader in Castilla-La Mancha, held several meetings with regional industry actors and policymakers in order to introduce them to ClusterFY project goals, partners, planned activities, etc. These meetings are part of a strategy designed to build the core stakeholder group that would engage and work closely together with ClusterFY team in the region.
The main objective is to explore potential collaborations in the frame of the project activities and get a preliminary picture of the issues and concerns ClusterFY will face in the coming years.
ClusterFY project in Castilla-La Mancha has been working on the building of the stakeholder group that will accompany the regional team through the life of the project. This step is key in the successfull development of the ClusterFY initiative, ensuring the viability of the future proposed actions and maximizing their impact.
For this reason, Prof. Juan Carlos López, as project leader in the region, carried out several face-to-face information meetings with regional representatives of the Quadruple Helix (industry, business associations, academia, Government, users associations...). In those meeting, Prof. López made special emphasis on the fact that, due to the interregional nature of the project, it creates a perfect environment to learn best practices and study lesson learned in other countries that could be later on applied to our region. All of the interviewees had the opportunity to express their interests, needs and concerns regarding those topics that are within the scope of ClusterFY.
Some of the participant institutions in this round of talks were:
- PCYTCLM (Scientific and Technological Park of Castilla-La Mancha), Albacete on 13th June 2017. With the General Manager of PCYTCLM, Juan Bautista Torrente, and the General Manager of ITECAM (Metal Technology Cluster of Castilla-La Mancha), Jorge Parra.
- CEEI (European Enterprise and Innovation Center), Albacete on 19th June 2017. With the General Manager, Ángel Prieto, and Ana Córdoba who is the European Projects Consultant.
- Regional Ministry of Development of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM), Toledo, on 18th July 2017. With the Regional Minister of Development, Agustina García, and the Director-General of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Alipio García.
- Advisory Board of Telecommunications and Information Society (CATSI) of Castilla-La Mancha, held at Directorate-General of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (DG TIT) chaired by the Director-General of Telecom. and Information Technologies, Mr. Alipio García., Toledo, on 20th July 2017. The members of this board are: professional associations/bodies on informatics and Telecommunications, businesses, and industry associations related with Information Technologies, higher education and research institutions’ representatives, trade unions and user associations and other civil society organizations.
- DG for Companies, Competitiveness and Internationalization (DG CCI) of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM), Toledo, on 24th July 2017. With Francisco Javier Rosell – Director-General of DG CCI-JCCM and Gerardo Brasal, Head of the Innovation Department of DG CCI-JCCM.
- ADECA (Industrial Park Enterprise Association), Albacete, on 20th October 2017. The attendees were the ADECA President, Santos Prieto and Miguel Ángel Cuartero, ADECA General Manager.
- DG of Universities, Research and Innovation of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM), Toledo, on 2nd November 2017. With Ricardo Cuevas, Director-General of DG URI-JCCM and África Aranda, Head of the Research Infrastructures and Technological Department DG CCI-JCCM.
