The event was organised within the framework of two relevant projects funded under Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation: the Black Sea Horizon (https://blacksea-horizon.eu/) and the Strengthening Research and Innovation towards Ukraine (https://ri-links2ua.eu/) projects.

The main aim of the event was to promote the dialogue between selected research industrial clusters from the Black Sea Region, fostering cooperation opportunities and providing recommendations on how to establish, manage, sustain and internationalize these industrial clusters. In particular, the event focused on the initial presentation of the Guidelines on how to establish, manage, sustain and internationalize these industrial clusters report that is developed by SPI. The event had a first part dedicated to presenting some relevant tools and guidelines for the clusters, having a second part focused on the discussions and building of best practices among the different clusters in the Black Sea region.

The seminar counted with many representatives from clusters, cluster associations, research institutes and universities, private companies and government organisations. In total, 80 representatives participated in the seminar, representing: Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine.

The seminar started with some welcoming words from IEF and other representatives from Ukrainian authorities. This was followed by an introductory session from the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), presenting the Black Sea Horizon and the RILINKS2UA projects. SPI then presented the initial version of the Guidelines on establishing, managing, sustaining and internationalizing industrial clusters report under the Black Sea Horizon project. A further two sessions were held in the morning, focusing on the European Cluster Collaboration Platform and on German cluster support initiatives.

The afternoon session was devoted to the exchange of cluster development experiences in the Black Sea region. During the session, three case studies were presented and discussions were held in order to assess good practices for the establishment, sustainability, management and internationalization of industrial based clusters.

The seminar participants were positive about the seminar. According to the results received from the evaluation forms distributed during the event, 96% of the participants were either satisfied or very satisfied with the content of the event and more than 80% believed that the event met their initial expectations to a high / very high extent.

The feedback and inputs received from the participants will be included in the new version of the Guidelines on establishing, managing, sustaining and internationalizing industrial clusters report that will be available in the project website in March.

All presentations are available at https://blacksea-horizon.eu/object/document/686