READ CATALAN VERSION
The Harvard Business School has published a case study on cluster policy in Catalonia and its contribution to the competitiveness of the business fabric. A text that highlights how clusters have had a “critical” positive impact on Catalan companies and that Catalonia is one of the most developed regions in this area in Europe. This was announced last Monday by the Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent i Ramió, and the Harvard Business School researcher Christian Ketels in the framework of a meeting with the presidents of the Catalan clusters and representatives of the ecosystem.
The development of clusters – groupings of companies and agents such as universities and technological centers of a certain economic field such as the means of agricultural production, sports, advanced materials or fashion – is a methodology to improve the competitiveness of companies, understanding their strategic challenges and subsequently building an agenda of change projects. In Catalonia, the Generalitat began to promote them in 1992, something that the business school highlights: it explains that "few initiatives have been maintained for such a long period of time" and the "strong indications that this success, by keeping this program active , reflects the value it brings to Catalonia and its economy."
In this sense, he emphasizes that managers confirm how their participation in cluster activities has helped their companies “critically” and that they have better indicators such as turnover, job creation, innovation or internationalization than companies that are not part of these organizations.
The Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent i Ramió, assured during the meeting that “the cluster policy is a successful asset and is very important for the Government and for the competitiveness of the Catalan economy. In the last three years, 400 new companies have joined the clusters, gaining muscle for the future.”
For his part, the Harvard Business School expert stressed that “Catalonia is a global reference in cluster policy. Many regions and countries in the world can learn how public policies and cluster structures have adapted to economic and global changes over the last thirty years.” Ketels, a world leader in the field of business competitiveness, explained that “today, Catalonia has a structure of clusters that have private leadership, which work in close cooperation with the government, through ACCIÓ, which leads the ecosystem and offers methodological and economic support with a global vision of which sectors best characterize the Catalan economic fabric. Therefore, this policy is a clear and effective example that can serve as a lesson for other regions.”
The students who will study the Catalan case are specialized in microeconomics and business competitiveness studies from MBA courses and master's degrees in Public Administration (MPA), as well as alumni of these courses and students from a hundred international universities that collaborate with Harvard Business School, who will also have access to the study of the Catalan case.
The case of the business school also points to Catalonia's activity in international networks linked to clusters and projects financed by the European Union. It stands out that, with 41 clusters registered in the European Cluster Collaboration Platform, Catalonia is the region with the most organizations above Lithuania, Bavaria (Germany) and Baden-Württemberg (Germany), as well as that Catalonia is also the European region with the highest number of clusters that have received funding through the European Union's Euroclusters program.
The Catalunya Clusters program currently incorporates 27 Catalan clusters that bring together more than 2,700 companies and associated agents with a turnover of more than 70,000 million euros, representing 36% of the industrial turnover of Catalonia and 36% of industrial jobs. .
By typology, cluster partners represent a diverse network of actors, including SMEs (68%); large companies (10%); research centers, universities and knowledge providers (9%); startups (8%), and environmental agents (5%). Through this initiative, the aim is to help them focus their strategy, develop training programs on shared value, co-finance strategic projects, organize trips to reference ecosystems to carry out international benchmarking and close collaboration projects between Catalan clusters or with international entities, among others. .
