Leather Cluster Barcelona takes part in the session on European project funding and opportunities for collaboration between local authorities and clusters

On 14 June the Hotel Gallery in Barcelona hosted the session organised by ACCIÓ, Increasing success in European projects: clusters and local authorities.

The meeting, whose aim was to share the great potential for collaboration on European projects between clusters and local authorities, was attended by Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona.

The session opened with a welcome to attendees from the director of business strategy at ACCIÓ, Joan Martí, who highlighted that this year cluster policy was celebrating its 30th anniversary and that over this period our country has become an ecosystem of excellent clusters, being one of the few territories worldwide where cluster policies have never been interrupted. In Catalonia, cluster work takes a very pragmatic approach and uses an original methodology based on fostering strategic change as the main driver of competitive improvement.

Next, the different European funding lines were presented, highlighting the funding opportunities in which local authorities can collaborate with clusters.

Experiences of collaboration on projects between local authorities and clusters were also explained, with the success stories of the Efficient Energy Cluster of Catalonia with Girona Town Council and the wine cluster, INNOVI, with Vilafranca Town Council.

As part of the session, bilateral meetings were also arranged between various local authorities and the participating clusters in order to establish initial contact. The Leather Cluster Barcelona meetings focused on circular economy projects, university training, and regenerative agriculture and livestock farming.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector. The cluster is an accredited entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.