Third meeting of International Cleantech Network brings tangible results

When the managers of eight of the world’s leading cleantech clusters held their third meeting of the International Cleantech Network (ICN), the emphasis was on including the stakeholders in the regions and creating value for these cleantech players of which there are over 1000.

Only 8 months after having the first meeting of the ICN, it was clear at the third Managers Meeting in Bilbao, Spain in mid-June 2011 that international collaboration has already been firmly consolidated. Simon Dreyer, Head of Cleantech Networks at Copenhagen Capacity,  says that the managers of the partner clusters have already established strong personal and professional relationships with each other.

"The solid ties between the managers are fundamental to collaboration and of great value to our stakeholders. With these, we have opened a gateway for the Danish cleantech players to seven of the world's most proactive cleantech regions," states Simon Dreyer.

With the network's internal collaboration functioning well, the focus is now turning purposefully towards activities that can generate growth and add value to the cluster stakeholders. Matchmaking is therefore one of the top priorities, and tangible agreements have been made to hold matchmaking events in North Carolina alongside the ICN meeting in October and also an international conference in Singapore.

A broad range of Danish cleantech actors will be invited to participate in the visit to the North American cluster, and get the opportunity to have an insider's introduction to the most interesting players in the fast-growing, internationally-recognized cleantech hub. The ICN managers will work to link up the delegation with potential collaborators, suppliers and customers, as the Danish stakeholders will serve as a good match to the host region: North Carolina has outstanding competencies primarily in intelligent energy systems, energy-saving systems and solar. These are areas which are also some of the significant strongholds of the Danish cleantech industry.

Moreover, the new partner in ICN, Singapore Sustainability Alliance, has already taken steps to gain the tangible rewards of international collaboration: a Singaporean business delegation to Italy's Lombardy Region's cleantech cluster arranged through ICN has set up a bilateral exchange that the managers believe will soon result in investments between the two regions. Moreover, Singapore has agreed to host a large, international cleantech conference in October 2012, which will serve as a platform for meetings and exchange of ideas within the cleantech sector.

Immediate gains were also evident to the Danish delegation participating in the recent Bilbao meeting  on visiting the Basque cleantech cluster, Aclima. "As a cluster with 15 years of experience, we have a lot to learn from Aclima about how to build a strong cluster. The visit gave us an idea of how they conduct their activities in the cluster along with a picture of how they successfully commercialize knowledge in their innovation centres," Simon Dreyer says and adds: "And then, of course, Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster (CCC) now has unique connections to local stakeholders in a key region of Spain within the cleantech sector."

The members of CCC will soon receive an invitation to the meeting in North Carolina, and the CCC office hopes to be able to take a range of Danish cleantech players as part of the delegation.

To read more about ICN, our work and who we are, please go to: www.internationalcleantechnetwork.com

For any questions related to the ICN or the delegation to North Carolina, please contact:

Simon Dreyer

sid@copcap.com