On Thursday 11 July, Leather Cluster Barcelona, represented by its project manager, Mònica Santamans, took part in the 12th Strategic Immersion of cluster teams organised by ACCIÓ, the public agency for the competitiveness of Catalan companies.

The event, held in Tarragona, was the launch meeting for the professional training linked to the new Catalunya Clústers Programme for the 2024-2026 period.

With a record attendance of 90 professionals from the 27 Catalan clusters that today employ more than 200 people, the 12th Strategic Immersion was a working day for sharing knowledge, vision for the future and ecosystem challenges in order to boost the competitiveness of companies.

At the meeting, tribute was paid to the figure of Michael Porter, professor at Harvard and father of the cluster and shared value concepts. In this regard, Joan Martí, Director of Business Strategy at ACCIÓ, and Alberto Pezzi, Senior Cluster Manager, stressed how important it is for the country that Harvard should study Catalonia's cluster policy as a case of business success.

This 12th Strategic Immersion of ACCIÓ cluster teams featured a number of round tables in which participants set out best practices in cluster management around such interesting topics as cluster business models, governance and project-driven momentum.

Before the joint lunch, EADA Business School professor Carles Brugarolas gave a talk on the leadership of high-performance teams.

During the event, the team-building activity and the networking meetings fostered new opportunities for cooperation between the different clusters.

The day was a unique opportunity to share best practices in management and the strategic challenges of the cluster ecosystem.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is one of the 27 clusters accredited by the Generalitat de Catalunya, thanks to its compliance with the conditions established in the Catalunya Clústers Programme. Being one of the clusters accredited by ACCIÓ entails rights and advantages both for the clusters and for the companies that belong to them, such as receiving guidance and training for strategic change, receiving mentoring and advice on international cooperation, the possibility of taking part in projects and programmes under the funding lines managed by ACCIÓ, guidance, support and training in talent programmes and in other skills-generation activities, or taking part in networking activities with other clusters.

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 within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an entity accredited under the Catalonia Clusters programme and is supported by Acció.