International GIS Cluster Conference

The Enterprise for Innovative Geospatial Solutions (EIGS) housed at The University of Mississippi in the US is hosting an international conference to discuss emerging efforts to foster geospatial research and industry clusters. The event is a follow-on from the 1st International GIS Cluster Conference that was held in Sweden in 2008.

One of the motivations for brining the event to Ole Miss was according to Dr. Greg Easson, EIGS Executive Director the opportunity to further learn more about cluster development and programs from developed clusters clusters around the globe.

Among the clusters at the event will be:

• GIS-Cluster Salzburg (Austria)
• Future Position X (Sweden’s national GIS Cluster)
• Wuhan Geospatial Information Industry Base (China)
• Geospatial Quebec (Canada)

We are excited to see that the idea of international collaboration and best practice sharing is on the agenda – and also to such a specific industry niche as GIS.

On a side note, GIS is also a valuable tool for cluster mapping and development – something we previously have successfully utilized.

Delegation from French Clusters Visit Israel to Explore Partnerships

As a part of the  ”Rencontres Franco Israéliennes pour l’Innovation et la Coopération” (Franco-Israeli meetings to promote innovation and cooperation) initiative, the Fondation Sophia Antipolis organized a delegation early December 2009 to Israel with the objective to promote the various companies and clusters in the Côte d’Azur (French Riviera) region to Israeli companies, academic institutions and R&D organizations.

The Israeli activities were organized by the Israeli Institue of Technology which is the Fondation Sophia Antipolis counterpart in the Rencontres Franco Israéliennes pour l’Innovation et la Coopération initiative. The overall objectives with the initiative are:

• Promote and expand bilateral activities with the goal of helping companies expand their businesses internationally
• Promote the French clusters
• Develop training programs (mentorship program, etc.)
• Further improve relations to help set-up projects, collaboration, share information on tenders/calls for projects etc.
• Support the project of a new incubator in Sophia based on an Israeli model and which should be set-up in Sophia Antipolis in 2010

We are excited to see international collaborations, and look forward to see how the synergies play out.

US Federal Government will invest $366M in Energy Innovation Hubs / Clusters

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has presented a plan outlining how the DoE will invest up to US $122 over five years in each three hubs.

DoE will review proposal in the coming months from prospective clusters/hubs.

The overall objective is bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers to accelerate R&D and to shorten the time from discovery to technological development and commercialization  promising energy-related technologies.

The three hubs/clusters will focus on:

• production of fuels directly from sunlight
• improving energy-efficient building systems design
• computer modeling and simulation for the development of advanced nuclear reactors

More information

Lessons Learned from an Industry Cluster in India

Clusterpreneur is back after a hiatus over the holidays. The first posting of 2010 is a reference to a very interesting article in Business Week, written by Vivek Wadhwa who is a is senior research associate at the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and executive in residence at Duke University.

Among the things he emphasizes in the article is the importance of having a bottom-up approach to cluster development and let the industry set the direction for cluster and economic development. We have previously touched upon this very important are of cluster activation vs. cluster creation in this blog.

You can read Wadhwa’s article here.