The Generalitat renews Leather Cluster Barcelona's accreditation

The Catalan leather cluster meets all the requirements of the Catalunya Clústers programme

The Generalitat de Catalunya, through the Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ), after verifying compliance with the established requirements, has renewed Leather Cluster Barcelona as a cluster within the Catalunya Clústers Programme until 30 December 2023.

A cluster is a grouping of companies and stakeholders in the surrounding environment (universities and technology centres) from a given economic field that share resources, generate synergies and project themselves internationally. It is an instrument that makes it possible to improve the competitiveness of the members that form part of it by defining joint strategic challenges and developing transformative projects.

The purpose of the Catalunya Clústers Programme is to boost the competitiveness of the Catalan economy, to systematise the action of the Generalitat de Catalunya in the field of cluster policy and to contribute to rationalising the map of the clusters existing in Catalonia.

In parallel with the accreditation, and as one of the requirements for joining Catalunya Clústers, the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA), the leading body in Europe for the analysis of business cluster management, made up of experts from 30 countries, has awarded Leather Cluster Barcelona the Cluster Excellence Initiative Bronze Label Certificate.

Catalonia has been one of the pioneering countries in the world in promoting clusters as a tool to improve the competitiveness of companies. Since 1992, the Generalitat de Catalunya, through ACCIÓ, has worked without interruption to strengthen clusters along two basic lines: public-private collaboration and a focus on strategic change as the main vector of competitive improvement.

With this latest accreditation decision, the Catalan cluster ecosystem, which was made up of 29 clusters, now stands at 24 clusters which together represent approximately 30% of Catalonia's GDP and generate some 300,000 jobs.

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 has its capital in Igualada and its headquarters at Adoberia Bella, the European Interpretation Centre for Quality Leather. Committed to sustainable fashion, the circular economy and shared value, Leather Cluster Barcelona brings together 50 companies and stakeholders with a combined turnover of more than 350 million euros, from livestock farming and the food industry, tanneries, university and research, through to chemistry, sustainability, design, leather manufacturing and fashion. The cluster is currently working, among other things, on projects on sustainability and the circular economy, animal welfare and traceability.