Sep 27, 2024
EU4Digital selects Eastern partner clusters for ESCA benchmarking and quality labelling
EU4Digital Facility is pleased to announce that five innovation cluster management organisations from Eastern partner countries have been chosen to receive support to participate in the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) benchmarking and quality labelling process. The chosen organisations were selected from among those who completed a self-assessment questionnaire as part of new EU4Digital activities, launched in April 2024, to support innovation clusters in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region
The selected organisations were chosen based on criteria set by EU4Digital and ESCA:
- Mapped in the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP);
- Conducted at least five different activities addressing at least two different strategic priority areas that support the “enhancement of collaboration, networking and learning” and “provides or channels specialised and customised business support to stimulate innovative activities, especially to SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises]”;
- Has at least 15 clearly committed cluster participants, with a majority originating from the private sector;
- Has a dedicated cluster management of at least 0.5 full-time equivalent.
Additional criteria:
- Has a documented strategy;
- Has an annual action / implementation plan;
- Conducts regular studies to identify cluster members’ needs and tailor service packages accordingly;
- Conducts regular studies to assess cluster members’ digital maturity or demand for digital innovations;
- Year of establishment is before 2022, which allowed the cluster management organisation to have produced impactful outcomes.
The additional criteria distinguish the cluster management organisations that are systematic and demand-oriented in their efforts to support cluster members in a digital economy.
The five selected organisations will be informed during an EU4Digital clusters benchmarking workshop on 10 September and will be officially announced during the ICT Innovation Forum on 9 October 2024.
Further information
The new Clusters activity and the ICT Innovation Forum are part of the ICT Innovation and Start-up Ecosystems stream in EU4Digital Facility Phase II. To find out more about EU4Digital ICT Innovation and Start-up Ecosystem activities, visit our ‘Explainers’ web content and view our short video ‘This is ICT Innovation’, available in our online Library.
