Leather Cluster Barcelona takes part in ACCIÓ’s Strategic Immersion

On 8 July, the Strategic Immersion of cluster teams organised by the Business Competitiveness Agency, ACCIÓ, was held in Sant Cugat. At the meeting, the cluster was represented by its project manager, Mònica Santamans, and its executive director, Jordi Vidal.

With a record attendance of 70 professionals from the 25 Catalan clusters that today employ more than 160 people, the 10th Strategic Immersion was a working session to share knowledge, vision for the future and ecosystem challenges in order to boost business competitiveness, while marking the 30th anniversary of the cluster policy in Catalonia led by Acció.

Catalonia has been one of the pioneering countries in the world in promoting clusters as a tool for improving business competitiveness. Since 1992, the Generalitat de Catalunya, through ACCIÓ, has worked uninterruptedly to strengthen clusters along two basic lines: public-private collaboration and a focus on strategic change as the main vector of competitive improvement. The success of the cluster policy has recently been confirmed by studies showing that companies belonging to clusters grow more in turnover and employment, while achieving better business results. The Catalan cluster ecosystem is made up of 25 clusters that in aggregate represent approximately 30% of Catalonia’s GDP and generate some 300,000 jobs.

The Immersion also served to share experiences such as the Strategic Cluster Week, an initiative organised by ACCIÓ through the Catalonia Clusters programme in collaboration with the Trade and Investment Office in New York, in which 17 Catalan clusters, among them Leather Cluster Barcelona, travelled to Boston last May with the aim of exploring strategic opportunities within their sectors, fostering international networking and learning how clusters work in advanced, innovative ecosystems.

In this regard, Jordi Vidal, executive director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, explained to those attending ACCIÓ’s Strategic Immersion the cluster’s individual agenda during the trip to Boston, which consisted of a meeting with a start-up that has developed a patented membrane technology capable of purifying wastewater from, among others, the textile and leather sectors; a working meeting in the field of machine vision and artificial intelligence to incorporate technological advances with the aim of generating impact in the business world by improving inspection processes; and another with an interdisciplinary research laboratory that investigates materials at the interface between technology and the life sciences.

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