Leather Cluster Barcelona hosts an international delegation to show the evolution of a sector recognised as an example of industrial transformation and competitiveness

On 12 June, Leather Cluster Barcelona welcomed to Igualada the participants of the IESE Competitiveness Summer School, a training programme organised by the Foundation for Clusters and Competitiveness that analyses leading international cases in competitiveness, industrial transformation and cluster development.

The visit to the Catalan leather cluster formed part of the study of the Harvard case on the Catalan tanning industry, focused on the sector's evolution from the 1990s to the 2010s. This case analyses how the Igualada leather industry faced, first, the impact of new European environmental requirements and, subsequently, the challenges arising from international competition, especially pressure from Asian markets.

The Harvard case The Catalan Leather Industry sets the debate in the mid-1990s, when the imminent application of new European environmental regulations put at risk the continuity of a sector already under strain from foreign competition. In that context, the Government of Catalonia had to decide how to act in the face of an industry calling for support in order to adapt to the new requirements. The decision had environmental implications, but also industrial, social and territorial ones.

The later IESE cases, The Long Process to Specialization in the Catalan Leather Industry and Struggling with Competition in the Catalan Leather Industry, make it possible to analyse the cluster's evolution over time. On the one hand, they explain the technical and collective solution promoted in the 1990s, with the launch of a joint wastewater treatment infrastructure. On the other, they show how, years later, the sector had to face new competitive challenges linked to globalisation, moving towards specialisation, quality, innovation and differentiation.

Within this framework, the day allowed participants to compare the academic case with the current reality on the ground and to learn at first hand about some of the main assets that have contributed to the transformation of the Catalan leather cluster.

The programme began with a welcome and working session with Leather Cluster Barcelona, at which the cluster's role as a platform for strategic cooperation to strengthen the sector's competitiveness, sustainability and internationalisation was presented. Participants then visited Badia – Curtidos Badia SA, a tannery specialising in the production of high-quality leathers and representative of the local industrial ecosystem.

The visit continued at the Igualada Leather Museum, an institution that preserves and disseminates the history of an activity with more than a thousand years of tradition in the area. In the afternoon, the group visited the A3 Leather Innovation Center, a centre dedicated to innovation, applied research and specialist training in leather, and finally visited the IDR – Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació wastewater treatment plant.

The visit to IDR was especially significant within the day's programme, since this collective infrastructure is one of the central elements of the case study. The plant exemplifies how business cooperation and a shared vision can turn a regulatory threat into an opportunity for modernisation, sustainability and competitiveness for the sector as a whole.

Through this experience, the participants of the IESE Competitiveness Summer School were able to analyse on the ground some of the key lessons of the case: the importance of focusing cluster initiatives on strategy and not only on operational efficiency; the role of collective dialogue in driving sector-wide change; the limits of subsidies as a tool for long-term competitiveness; and the need to incorporate external knowledge, leadership and a shared vision into processes of industrial transformation.

The day also served to highlight Igualada's ability to combine industrial tradition, cooperation, innovation and sustainability. The itinerary offered a complete view of an ecosystem that has managed to transform itself while retaining its productive identity and projecting itself as an international benchmark case.

At Leather Cluster Barcelona we would like to thank the Foundation for Clusters and Competitiveness for the confidence placed in the Catalan leather cluster as an international learning case, as well as all the participating companies and organisations for their involvement in a day that helped to reinforce recognition of the Igualada model.

Special thanks also go to Emiliano Duch, a pioneer in the development of cluster-based industrial policies, for his commitment to cluster excellence and for helping to make this experience of international exchange and learning possible.

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 entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.