HBio hosts ECRI training workshop

HBio hosted the 2nd part of the joint training activities under the COSME funded “Excellence Cluster for Regional Improvement” (ECRI) project from September 11 to September 15 in Athens, Greece. The project partners come from four European life science clusters and each of the consortia member is from a different country with a different level of cluster excellence. The common objective is to improve the performance of the four consortium clusters, achieve and maintain cluster excellence in order to strengthen the competitiveness of their actors and foster trans-cluster cooperation.

The training activities aimed at providing knowledge and practical skills to the participants for improving their cluster management capability. The training was delivered by Jakob Stoumann (Oxford Research, Denmark), Nicolai Sederberg Rottbøll (Quercus Group, Denmark) and Dr. Kim Møller (Oxford Research and Oxford Leadership Academy). The following topics were covered through lectures as well as interactive sessions:

• Cluster organization, structure and governance
• Cluster finance and membership models
• Business models for cluster organisations
• Communication strategies
• Internationalisation of cluster organisations
• Strategies for long-term sustainability of cluster organisations
• Evaluation and benchmarking of cluster initiatives

During the 3rd day of the training, Dr. Kim Møller facilitated a session on Strategic Focusing. This session was based on a proprietary method developed by Oxford Leadership Academy for focusing managers and leadership teams and entire organisations on the few things that make the greatest difference.

The training activities included a site visit at the Hellenic Association of Space Industry where the participants were informed about the activities of Greek companies in Space Technologies and the establishment and management of the si-Cluster that aims at promoting collaboration between SMEs and academic institutes. The presentation was followed by discussion and exchange of best practices on cluster management issues, sustainable business models and strategic planning.

Finally, the training included a site visit at PRAXI Network, which is a public organization supporting SMEs and research institutions in innovation, technology transfer, research collaboration, and internationalization. The site visit included a presentation of the organisation, insights into clustering activities initiated and supported by PRAXI Network and discussion on issues related to clustering policy.

For more information about the ECRI Project click here.