Clusters meet Regions - Athens, 6. - 7. října 2026

The Clusters Meet Regions event in Attica (Athens) will bring together clusters, policymakers, innovation actors and businesses from across Europe to explore how cluster collaboration can accelerate innovation uptake, scale-up and industrial transformation, while strengthening regional competitiveness.

As Greece’s largest economic and innovation hub, Attica benefits from strong capabilities in digital technologies, health, research and knowledge-intensive services. These are supported by a dynamic ecosystem of public and private actors. At the same time, the region is seeking to strengthen its role in European value chains, improve scale-up conditions for innovative SMEs and start-ups, and translate research and entrepreneurial dynamism into market and investment outcomes.  

In this context, the event will focus on clusters as key actors of regional transformation and innovation performance. The discussions will address how clusters contribute to:  

• accelerating innovation uptake, commercialisation and scale up;
• supporting SME growth, productivity and internationalisation;
• connecting regional actors around smart specialisation priorities and interregional investment opportunities;
• strengthening ecosystem collaboration and coordination to enable scaling;
• facilitating integration into European value chains and new market opportunities.

Adopting a cross-sectoral and interregional perspective, the event will explore these dynamics across key innovation-driven ecosystems relevant to Attica and the wider EU agenda, including digital, health and deep tech, while examining how clusters can bridge sectoral silos and support cooperation beyond regional borders.

The event will provide a platform for policy dialogue, peer learning and cooperation building, linking Attica’s priorities with wider European competitiveness agendas, the New European Innovation Agenda, smart specialisation cooperation, and emerging opportunities for industrial scale-up, investment and ecosystem collaboration.

Objectives

The event aims to:

• Strengthen the role of clusters in regional and industrial transformation, including their contribution to smart specialisation, industrial modernisation and the translation of innovation into deployment and market uptake;
• Support SME and scale-up competitiveness, by improving productivity, access to markets, investment readiness and internationalisation pathways;
• Enhance policy coordination across levels of governance, bringing together regional, national and EU actors to discuss how clusters can be better embedded in policy design and implementation;
• Facilitate peer learning and transfer of practices between Attica and European regions facing similar opportunities and bottlenecks in innovation scaling, ecosystem governance and industrial transition;
• Foster interregional and cross-ecosystem cooperation, including pathways linked to European value chains, Regional Innovation Valleys and other interregional investment initiatives;
• Identify actionable follow-up pathways, including cooperation ideas, practical recommendations and concrete next steps for stakeholders after the event.

Expected Outcomes

The event is expected to deliver:

• New cooperation and partnership opportunities between Attica stakeholders and European clusters, supporting innovation scaling and market access;
• Concrete insights for strengthening cluster policies and support mechanisms in Attica and Greece, particularly in relation to scaling and commercialisation;
• Practical recommendations on how clusters can better support SME growth, innovation uptake and internationalisation;
• Improved coordination across ecosystem actors, including clusters, policymakers, research organisations, business support actors and investors;  
• Increased visibility of Attica’s innovation ecosystem, particularly in scaling high-potential sectors (e.g. digital, health, deep tech).

Target Groups

• The event will bring together a mix of stakeholders, including:
• Regional, national and EU policymakers, including managing authorities;
• Cluster organisations and cluster intermediaries;
• Innovation ecosystem actors, including European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), incubators and accelerators;
• SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups active within regional innovation ecosystems;
• Research & technology organisations and Technology Transfer Organisations, supporting innovation deployment and industrial collaboration;
• Representatives from the European Commission, ECCP and other relevant EU initiatives.

Main Themes

Core focus

Cluster enables scale-up, industrial transformation, and regional competitiveness through ecosystem collaboration, policy coordination, and interregional partnership building.

Main discussion areas:

• Innovation scaling, commercialisation and market uptake
• SME growth, productivity and competitiveness
• Interregional cooperation, smart specialisation and integration into European value chains  
• Ecosystem governance, coordination & collaboration
• Access to funding, investment and support instruments
• Digital and deep tech as enablers of industrial transformation
• Sectoral illustrations (selected examples)

The event will illustrate these dynamics through selected ecosystems, including:

• Health, biotech and digital health  
• Digital and AI-driven innovation  
• Deep tech (microelectronics, photonics, etc.)  
• Selected regional ecosystems (e.g. tourism, logistics, creative tech)

Registration

Registration will open soon. Stay tuned to the the ECCP's social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, X) and subscribe to the newsletter for announcements.