As Europe's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) operate in an ever more challenging environment, regional clusters are taking on a growing role, allowing smaller players to carry out all-important networking, form partnerships and collaborate on key technologies. But is there more these clusters can do by clubbing together themselves, forming "clusters of clusters" to put SMEs from different countries in touch with each other, allowing companies from new European Union member states to work more closely with their more established counterparts?
Marek Darecki, president and general director of United Technologies (UTC)-owned WSK PZL-Rzeszów and president of Poland's own aerospace cluster, Aviation Valley, thinks so.
He called a meeting of aerospace cluster representatives from across Europe at WSK-Rzeszów's site last month to sow the seeds of a project that could see SMEs setting up a network of aerospace clusters to share technologies, form partnerships and use the credibility that comes with greater numbers to ensure their voices get heard in Brussels and beyond.
Darecki wants SME cluster representatives from France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and Spain committing to meet regularly and collaborate closely with each other with an eventual aim of preparing a joint proposal on future activities to take to Brussels.
He stresses the ongoing importance of cross-border co-operation. Poland may traditionally be seen as a target market for outsourcing by Western aerospace companies, but with the imminent arrival of Romania and Bulgaria into Europe, there are potential cost-savings for companies like WSK-Rzeszów. "One of the major tools to be used over the next seven years is clusters. Our voice would be better understood if we speak together," he says.
"Previous projects such as [EU-funded] ECARE and AEROSME were good and should be a base to start a concrete network in the future," agrees Pierre-Manuel Jacob, managing director of Belgian region Wallonia's aerospace cluster, Skywin. Eric Jourdain, general manager of the European Federation of high-tech SMEs adds: "The ECARE project has led the way in clustering 19 European aeronautics clusters. The main lesson identified by the ECARE Group is that only local clusters have the necessary expertise and proximity to have an impact on the way SMEs from various countries work together towards a European objective. The follow-up project, ECARE+, runs until 2008 and will establish common tools and methods to bring up to 30 clusters to closer cooperation, with a view to better structure the aeronautics supply chain."
George Tomka, international technology promoter at the UK DTI's Global Watch service, adds: "Initiatives such as this, which seek to encourage the development of appropriate partnerships between SMEs and which improve their access to the supply chain in different parts of Europe are of fundamental importance. In particular engaging in partnerships which make the most of innovation and learning how innovative technologies are best applied, can give companies a globally competitive edge."
Closer ties will have significant advantages for the new member states. Mihály Hideg, chairman of the Hungarian Aviation Industry Foundation says the youngest cluster, the Hungarian Aerospace Cluster (HAC) which is just six months old, will benefit: "We can participate in big EU projects if we have foreign partners, both in research and product development."
Aside from concerns about the benefits for more established groups, and the increased bureaucracy a cluster would mean, the attendees of the first meeting seemed keen to increase their collaboration, recognising that in an industry in the midst of significant changes in the way it operates, smaller, less well-known players need to stick together, across national borders. Paola Chiarini, project manager of the AeroSME project agrees that the initiative could help SMEs, especially those in new member states, get noticed by larger companies when it comes to research projects: "At a European level, people don't know there are SMEs available for partnerships and ventures."
José Mariano López Urdiales, general manager of the Barcelona Aeronautics & Space Association adds: "The benefits of having some sort of network can be an increase of the awareness and understanding of each other and a larger influence in Brussels in choices that affect the industry as a whole, not just the primes."
Darecki agrees that there is work to be done: "I hope it was only the beginning of the process of 'clustering clusters'. I strongly believe in the cluster philosophy," he says.
Source: Flight International
