“go-cluster”-Newsletter English - 8 December 2022

The planned EU Tourism Portal aims to support the tourism industry, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and other stakeholders in their transition to greener and more innovative services and operations. The tourism portal will help strengthen the EU's position as a world-leading destination. Applications are open until 14 December 2022.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) has launched a public consultation on a draft de minimis regulation, which will run until 10 January 2023. The current de minimis rules for state aid are due to expire on 31 December 2023. The revision aims to raise the ceilings to take account of considerable inflation.

The EU is making a total of more than €5 billion available under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Transport programme. Projects are being sought that aim to create new, modernised and improved European transport infrastructure. A core criterion is the respective project contribution to increasing the sustainability of the transport network. Public and private organisations can apply until 18 January 2023.

In the INGENIOUS project, BalticNet-PlasmaTec, together with Mazovia Cluster ICT from Poland, MetaIndustry4 (Spain) and the Czech cluster Nanoprogress, supports the green and digital transformation – contributing to the resilience of the EU. INGENIOUS aims to use funding opportunities to optimise manufacturing processes, increase competitiveness and support the EU's Green Deal. The Green Deal stipulates that the EU should become climate-neutral by 2050.

On 20 October 2022, it was that time again: the “go-cluster” programme invited participants to its annual cluster meeting – for the third time in virtual form. This year, the focus was on the topic “Transformation of Industry”, the facets of which were discussed by a good 60 participants from the German cluster community. They chose the contribution of Netzwerk Industrie RuhrOst e. V. (NIRO) on sustainability in their own network as the ClusterERFOLG (ClusterSuccess) 2022.

At the first Networking Day of the “go-cluster” programme on 23 November 2022, the focus was on mutual exchange between the programme members. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the “go-cluster” team and the CNA e. V., responsible for the BahnTechnik Bayern cluster, as the local host, set the framework for the personal exchange of around 30 participants on the role of cluster management organisations in managing regional transformation.

The overall objective of the Interreg Alpine Space Programme CIRCULAR4.0 was to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Alpine region through joint, interregional activities. The 15 European partners in the project included the Umweltcluster Bayern (Cluster of Environmental Technologies Bavaria) and Baden-Württemberg: Connected e. V. (bwcon). Other partners came from France, Italy, Austria and Slovenia. At the final conference on 29 September 2022 in Bled (Slovenia), numerous issues were discussed with SMEs, researchers, experts, investors, cluster organisations and business promoters as well as public stakeholders at national, regional and local level.

With its new English-language podcast series “Hamburg Aviation Green”, the cluster presents some of the green aviation activities in Hamburg to a broad, global audience. In the first episode, Angus Baigent from Hamburg Aviation talks to Roland Gerhards, Managing Director of ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL).

The workshop “Clusters meet Regions” on 14 and 15 December 2022 in Barcelona is organised by the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) together with the Agència per a la Competitivitat del'Empresa (ACCIÓ) and the European Commission. The following day, the 30th anniversary celebrations of the cluster policy in Catalonia will take place.

The European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) invites all interested parties to the next EU Clusters Talk “Transition Pathway for Mobility” on 8 February 2023. This virtual event is open to participants from the European Union and SMP/COSME countries.