Clusters meet Regions in Košice was organised by the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, the Union of Slovak Clusters, the Ukrainian Cluster Alliance and the Slovak Enterprise Europe Network under the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) and the European Commission.

The workshop was attended by over 300 cluster and small and medium enterprise representatives (200 in person, 100 online) from Slovakia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania, Poland and Germany. 

National Cluster Association (NCA), together with its members CEDEG and NANOPROGRESS, represented the Czech Republic. Jiri Herinek and Renata Pfefferova represented NCA, Ivo Riha metacluster CEDEG, and NANOPROGRES Lubos Komarek. 

NCA and CEDEG activities during the Clusters meet Regions in Košice:

• Jiri Herineck signed a Memorandum of Cluster Partnerships for Ukraine on behalf of NCA. The memorandum was signed by six National Cluster Association representatives from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania and Poland. 
• A dozen conversations have led to the expansion and establishment of new collaborations between cluster organisations in Central and Eastern Europe -  the result is the preparation of an Interreg Europe project between CEDEG and the Slovak Smart City Cluster. 
• The search for new business and R&D opportunities for NCA cluster members - bilateral negotiations were held with Polish and Slovak leaders on joint projects within the planned European calls.
• One of the essential activities was recruiting new members for NCA and CEDEG, mainly from Slovakia. Ivo Riha from metacluster CEDEG discussed the entry of a significant Slovak technology company Antik and the Innovation Centre of the Košice Region. 
• The involvement of international partners in the events prepared by NCA and CEDEG in 2023/2024 was also discussed, especially the Clusters meet Regions in Prague on 23-24 October 2023 and the Czech-Slovak Technology Summit 2023 (C-STS), which will take place on 7-8 June 2023 in Mikulov.

Clusters meet Regions workshop topics:

• Regional economic development
• Interregioanal cooperation
• Practical aspects of trade with Ukraine
• Funding opportunities and interregional cooperation

Through the event, there was a space to meet with Ukrainian organisations that are currently looking for funding opportunities and new projects. There were several opportunities for introductions and presentations:

• Pitching session (in person or online) - several presenters got the opportunity to introduce cluster organisations in a short time and invite representatives into future collaborations. 
• Matchmaking session (in person or online) - cluster representatives met with selected organisations for future cooperation and business and R&D opportunities for their members. Each of the Czech representatives had the opportunity to meet three or more organisations from Ukraine.

Video recording of the whole event and available presentations can be found HERE.