Source: ACCIÓ

This year’s central concept was hybridisation as a business calling and methodology

A delegation from Leather Cluster Barcelona took part in ACCIÓ’s Cluster Day. This year’s edition was held on 4 December at the Tarragona Trade Fair and Congress Centre and placed the emphasis on hybridisation as a business calling and methodology, not only to survive but to grow in times of maximum complexity.

Companies face a world that is more competitive, complex and unpredictable than ever: social challenges, technological change, international instability, demographic challenges, the climate crisis… Faced with this growing complexity, companies need to act differently.

But the answers are not always found within the company itself, or within its own sector. Opportunities arise when you step outside your usual environment and connect with other spheres, other disciplines, other “tribes”.

The most transformative ideas can appear where nobody is looking for them, and the best alliances can emerge from unexpected conversations. Mixing has always been the way to find new recipes. Therefore, faced with complexity, hybridisation is needed.

Clusters have always been a space for hybridisation. Sectors, value chains, business models, technologies, needs and talents are mixed within them. Clusters are hybrid by definition, like Leather Cluster Barcelona, which spans everything from livestock farming and the food industry, tanneries, universities and research, through to chemistry, sustainability, design, craftsmanship, leather manufacturing and fashion.

Cluster Day 2025 featured experts such as K D Adamson, this edition’s keynote speaker, who describes herself as a futurist, pragmatic visionary, ecocentrist and hopeful sceptic. Executives from companies and institutions such as Sener, Starlab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona and Filmin also took centre stage.

The parallel sessions at Cluster Day featured leading clusters and companies that have based their success on a cross-cutting vision of their business, moving into different sectors thanks to multidisciplinary teams and to not being afraid of borders or no-entry signs.

The Cluster Day programme also included experts such as Joan Martí Estévez, Director of Business Strategy at ACCIÓ, and Marc Canal Noguer, Senior ‘Fellow’ at the McKinsey Global Institute.

Clusters in Catalonia

Clusters are groupings of companies and bodies from the same value chain that come together to develop joint collaborative projects that boost their competitiveness. In Catalonia, ACCIÓ has accredited a total of 27 clusters bringing together more than 3,000 companies with a combined turnover of more than 80 billion euros.

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 within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.