EU Commissioner thrilled with the Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster

In January, the EU commissioner for regional development visited Copenhagen to hear more about a few of the projects, which the EU supports financially, and Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster (CCC) told about the development and the ambitions of the largest cluster project.

App. DKK 70 million has been invested by the EU in the development of CCC over five years, and to keep track of what the money is spent on, the EU commissioner for regional development, the Austrian Johannes Hahn, made a quick visit to Copenhagen. The commissioner and his staff listened attentively as CCC together with two companies talked about the cluster's future plans.

- We were obviously pleased with having the opportunity to show the EU's top representative in this area how we convert their investments into concrete initiatives, new networks, more work, more research and strengthen the green development while achieving concrete results in the form of job and company creation. The cluster concept is more widespread in Denmark than in many other countries, and the perspectives of the fact that so many players work together are found very interesting in Brussels. My clear impression is that our presentation has improved our standing with European politicians, says the executive secretary of CCC, Nicolai Rotboell.

More clusters in the EU

There was a strong recognition of CCC's cluster perspective, which the EU representatives would like to see more of in other countries. Especially the integrated collaboration across sectors for the benefit of all actors was an experience that opened the eyes of the commissioner, who believes that a project such as CCC can be an inspiration to all of Europe.

- There are many market opportunities in this cluster project, not just in Europe but also in the rest of the world, and it could be important for the job creation across Europe, the enthusiastic commissioner stated.

CCC focuses on five areas: matchmaking, international outreach, innovation and entrepreneurship, testing and demonstration and the secretariat's coordinating role.