CCC united for the first time

Almost all of CCC’s 25 partners were represented, when CCC opened its doors to the first "family reunion" on Tuesday 25 January. The aims were to put faces on each other, dispel myths and move on with new agreements.

It took a year's time, but it was worth the wait.
That is Head of Secretariat, Nicolai Rottbøll's conclusion of the first partner meeting. The establishment of CCC - The largest cluster project in the history of Denmark - has been a demanding task for the small secretariat during the cluster's first eighteen months.

- Therefore, I am also very pleased, that we have finally succeeded. People have now put a face on each other, and it did not take long before there was talk of opportunities to engage in various collaboration projects across the partner group. And that is exactly what CCC is all about - to strengthen individuals' opportunities for development and better results while also benefitting the entire cluster and Danish cleantech," Nicolai Rottbøll states.

Five common focus areas

The 25 partners spent the afternoon at Scion DTU, where CCC's five focus areas - matchmaking, test & demonstration, innovation & entrepreneurship, international outreach and facilitation were discussed. The discussion was followed by networking meetings, where participants had the opportunity to discuss new collaboration agreements.

- The many activities can appear as many isolated islands when looking from the outside and in on what is happening in CCC's membership circle. But what can appear chaotic from the outside is actually a coordinated effort, precisely to bring together the many individual actions and activities each partner implements, to make them visible and valuable for everyone in the cluster. CCC is, so to speak, the glue that binds the individual efforts together. The event was also a good litmus test, proving that companies think very concretely about how to create new opportunities. We have had a lot positive feedback on the day, and it will definitely not be the last time we bring all the partners together," Nicolai Rottbøll says.

Myths dispelled

Some of the myths that have arisen, particularly in circles outside of CCC, due to the lengthy establishment process, were also dispelled. In particular, the DKK 145 million budget for the 2009-2014 period has been the subject of much interest, and the secretariat frequently receives inquiries about how to get a share of it for various projects.

- Each time we are approached, we nicely explain that we do not actually sit on a bag of money, and that money is not given away to cleantech projects. Besides the regular, daily administration, the money is out working in the many activities that the nine founding partners are responsible for in the CCC framework," Nicolai Rottbøll explains.

He also did away with the wrong impression that CCC is only for larger companies because Anders Eldrup, CEO of DONG Energy, is Chairman of the Board, and he underlined the fact that "Copenhagen" in Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster's name primarily has been chosen to exploit the green branding of Copenhagen in association with COP15 in December 2009, and does not mean that activities must take place in the Danish

Here are the presentations from the day