Catalan clusters raise more than half a million euros from the European Commission for internationalization projects of their companyies

● The financing ratio is much higher than the weight of the population of Catalonia in the European Union

● Five of these clusters have also obtained the highest certificate of international excellence

In the call Clusters Go International of the Comissió Europea in the framework of programa COSME, which has a budget of 8.6 million euros and the participation of 78 clusters from 20 countries, nine Catalan clusters have raised 560,000 euros from the European Commission to promote internationalization projects for small and medium-sized enterprises that are part of these clusters.

The amount raised represents 6.5% of the total aid and, consequently, the financing ratio obtained by the Catalan clusters is much higher than the weight of the population of Catalonia in the European Union (1.5%). To access these grants, of competitive concurrence, the Catalan clusters have had the support of ACCIÓ, the agency for the competitiveness of the company of the Department of Business and Knowledge. All the clusters that have submitted to the call have obtained funding.

The Catalan cluster projects that have obtained the aid are: CENFIM and Catalan Water Partnership; MODACC and Clúster Digital de Catalunya; Solartys and Catalan Water Partnership; Beauty Cluster; Secpho and Packaging Clúster; and CICAT.

The grants will allow clusters to carry out two-year projects to develop a joint internationalization strategy for SMEs that are part of these organizations or the implementation of this strategy through market research, international foresight missions or B2B meetings with other companies around the world.

Catalan clusters, with the highest certificate of international excellence

In fact, five of these Catalan clusters (Packaging Cluster, MODACC, Catalan Water Partnership, Beauty Cluster and Secpho) have received the Gold Label certificate by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis(ESCA) in 2020. It is one of the most prestigious awards in the world in the field of clusters that certifies the excellence in the management of these organizations.

In this way, now, 10% of the clusters from all over Europe with the Gold Label certificate are Catalan. To receive this accreditation, 30 indicators of the clusters related to financing, governance, strategy, composition (whether there is a presence of multinationals, SMEs, start-ups, universities or technology centers in the organization) or the technology are analyzed. qualification of the team that manages it, among others.