Days of Clusters. Conference book. 6th Balkan and Black Sea Conference, Brasov, 22-24 October 2015

Abstract

DAYS OF CLUSTERS 2015 conference was organized in partnership between The Cluster House Nis, as a conference founder and The Innovation and Technology Cluster Alt Brasov, as a conference host. The conference lead partners are The Romanian Association of Clusters CLUSTERO Bucharest, The Enterprise Europe Network and The Design for Europe. Strategic partners are The Transylvania University Brasov and The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding. The key supporting institutions of this year’s conference are The Global TCI Network from Barcelona, The Inno TSD – The ECCP and The Black Sea Horizon, The VEGO Consulting from Izmir, The France Clusters, and The Czech Trade Belgrade. The mission of this year’s conference is strengthening of the Balkan & Black Sea clusters synergy through the public-private dialogue building and regional cluster best practice. The conference will contribute to: cluster based economic development in the Balkan and the Black Sea Region, public-private dialogue creation for better business environment fostering of innovation, competitiveness and cluster development in the BBS Region, better understanding and cooperation between academic and R&D institutions and business community in the BBS Region, and cross regional networking and promotion of cluster organizations and cluster initiatives in the BBS Region. Special focus this year is devoted to the creative industries sector. The conference gathered over 200 participants - cluster practitioners, cluster managers, representatives of public and education and R&D institutions, companies and media from 16 countries: Serbia, Romania, Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Bulgaria, Denmark, Cyprus, Austria, Germany, Spain, Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, UK and France. The conference consists of seven sessions, workshop, brokerage events and a special track and over 40 speakers and moderators from 16 countries. The conference will be a platform for signing of multilateral and bilateral agreements in the field of cluster development, cluster policy optimization and internationalization of cluster organisations with the aim of boosting the innovation and competitiveness in the region through clusters. For successful informing of the conference participants I would like to commend the work of the Balkan Cluster Network and the Cluster House Info Centre. The Balkan Cluster Network includes more than 170 cluster organizations and supporting institutions from all of the Balkans. The Cluster House Info Centre has more than 3000 contacts with economic development experts, institutions and companies.