Press Release

Policy Makers, cluster stakeholders and practitioners from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania participated on the 11th of December to the 1st Danube Cluster Policy Maker Forum hosted in Bucharest by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised by the Romanian partners of the DTP DanuBioValNet project (Ministry of Economy, the Romanian Cluster Association and the Institute for Economic Forecasting) in the frame of the Romanian Presidency of EUSDR. 

Aim of the event was the setting up of the Danube Cluster Policy Maker Forum as an open platform where cluster policy makers regularly meet, exchange experiences and find a (common) position for the Danube macro region with regard to S3 and cluster policy making.

Approaches in several DTP Projects towards setting cluster policy in the Danube Region have been presented (DanuBioValNet, Made in Danube, Danube S3 and Foresda) followed by vivid discussions among the participants.

Cluster financing, capacity development of cluster managers, a common understanding of the cluster concept and a regional cluster certification system enabling cooperation were among the most important topics to be addressed by the Forum in the following period.

While a prioritisation of the topics is of high relevance, the most important result is the setup of the Forum itself, stated Mrs Butkovic, Croatian co-coordinator of PA 8 in the conclusion of the event. Next meeting will be organised by Croatia in 2020. 

Project co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA).