Clusters are powerful engines of economic development and drivers of innovation in the EU. It is a challenge for the V4 to address the cluster issue by this pilot project enabling its integration in a broader V4 agenda.

The aim of the project is to open the potential hidden in clusters and their cooperation across strong and emerging sectors of the V4 by their identification and informatisation of the national databases in a form of a digital depository as a layer of the V4 information platform.

Clusters are collaborative groupings developed naturally as an unrepeatable competitive advantage of the given territory. The cluster organisations add value to natural clusters by the facilitation of the cluster actors - businesses, universities and public sector, and their joint project implementation in an environment of trust and developed social capital. However, the inter-cluster collaboration and cluster internationalisation is still rare and needs an external stimulation. This is one of the tasks of the V4Clusters project. V4 countries can base their sectoral cooperation on clusters that have the potential of economic growth and the V4 globalisation as a part of the V4 macroeconomic strategy. In parallel, the V4 communication and information platform is developed.

The project will consist of three main activities:
A -     IDENTIFICATION of cluster organisations within the V4 countries will be carried out 
resulting in a creation of national cluster databases classified according to geographical location, sector, lifecycle and current V4 cooperation activities. Based on the data collected, the analyses of the strategic cluster cooperation opportunities will be carried out to lay the foundations for the targeted networking of cluster organisations. The data will be gathered in a unified format and serve as inputs for the informatisation process.

B –    NETWORKING and cluster match-making events will take place within the partner meetings in Györ, Nitra, 
Katowice and Ostrava. Cluster managers of the hosting country will present their cluster organisations and invite other cluster partners both within the value chain and the complementary sectors for establishing collaborative cluster networks. The leading clusters, at least one in each country, will prepare their cooperation action plans to serve as an input for the further V4 strategic programming reflecting the cluster development needs.

C –    INFORMATISATION of the identified cluster data will concentrate the contents of the national cluster 
databases in an integrated digital depository, accessible via a communication portal, so that partners can share, exchange and provide the data needed. The V4Clusters data will represent a thematic layer of the V4 integrated digital information platform.

Roles of partners

• National Cluster Association - Coordinator of the project.
• The Union of Slovak Clusters - Since UKS is an organization of national dimension covering the entire territory of Slovakia, it will provide an overview of the situation in Slovakia and information from leading Slovak clusters.
• Upper Silesian Agency for Entrepreneurship and Development - GAPR as regional development agency actively involved in clustering processes in Poland will be an institution developing cluster cooperation strategis in V4 countries.
• Czech Knowledge Cluster -  V4 cluster databases informatisation in the format of interactive maps, V4Clusters web portal and information services as a part of the Integrated V4 portal and participation in other activities
• Pannon Business Network Association - Participation in all project activities - identification of Hungarian clusters, collection of required data, cluster networking promotion, cooperation with cluster manager on the Hungarian Action Plan.