Conference REPORT

November 13, 2013, Nis, Serbia

Report has been prepared by the Cluster House

DAYS OF CLUSTERS 2013 SUCCESS

The IV Balkan and Black Sea Conference Days of Clusters was held from 31st October to 1st
November 2013 at the hotel Expo in Sofia, as a partnership of Cluster house from Serbia, led by
MSc Danka Milojkovi, and the Bulgarian Association of Business Clusters, led by Mr Peter Statev.

The conference was organized under the auspices of the President of Bulgaria Mr Rossen Plevneliev.
The conference was opened by Mr Krasin Dimitrov, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economy
and Energy of Bulgaria and Mr Peter Statev, the president of the Association of Business Clusters of
Bulgaria and Mr Aleksandar Milicevic, the First Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in
Sofia and Mr Carsten Lund, the president of the LEDIB Cluster House Union from Nis.

The Conference was supported by the world's leading organizations relevant to the global
development of the SMEs and Clusters: TCI from Barcelona (http://tci-network.org/news/card/659),
TMG from Austria, British - Serbian Chamber of Commerce
(http://www.britserbcham.eu/events/index/Events), EEN network of Bulgaria and a number of
partners in the region.

The Cluster House enabled participation of the Serbian delegation and distinguished guests from
Spain, Turkey, Macedonia and Denmark at "Days of clusters", while Mr Nebojsa Bogdanovic, the Vice
President of the Regional Chamber of Commerce Nis, and Mr Blagoje Stanisavljevi, the president of
the Chamber of Crafts Nis, supported the participation of the cluster community from south-east
Serbia.

Information shared with the Balkan clusters network and Serbian clusters community resulted in the
participation of over 150 representatives of cluster organizations and institutions supporting the
development of the SME sector.

Conference participants were from 12 countries: Bulgaria, Turkey, Macedonia, Croatia, Romania,
Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Serbia.

The aim of the conference was to raise interest of the public sector for cluster development, to
present clusters of Balkan and Black Sea region as a generator of the economic development, to
show successful models of cluster development and to point out challenges and prospects of
development of small and medium-sized enterprises grouped in cluster organizations. All
participants had the opportunity to share and gain valuable experience and expertise on the issues
of problems, challenges and success stories of the clusters in the Balkan and Black Sea region.

The conference was marked by a serious and deep discussion about the role and place of the
clusters in the regional economic development.
Kua klastera je osnovana na inicijativu klastera iz jugoistone Srbije i uz podrku danskog programa za lokalni ekonomski
razvoj na Balkanu LEDIB.
Cluster House was founded upon the initiative of clusters from South-East Serbia and with support of the Danish
Programme for Local Economic Development in the Balkans LEDIB.
There is a significant difference between the state policy on cluster development and business
expectations over the whole Balkan and Black sea region. Clusters need simple, efficient model and
tools for development against the present model which is complex and administrative with little
effective public spending.
The question of the cluster accreditation system was also tackled - whether to use models of
developed economies or to localize them.

The issue of how to encourage links and balance between innovation and entrepreneurship with
good business practices was discussed as well.

A High Representative from EC DG Enterprise, Mr Jose Freitas acquainted conference participants

with the novelties in the preparation of policies, instruments and procedures for the period from
2014 to 2020 and instructed them to read The Smart Guide to Service Innovation which is
available at the link http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/regional-sme-policies. Information
about the "European Creative Industries Allianceand support activities to creative industries is
available at http://www.howtogrow.eu/ECIA/. Link to information about the support to cluster
activities is http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/policy/clusters .
The participation of Mr Yavuz Ozutku from the Ministry of Economy of Turkey, Mrs Nikolina
Trajanoska from the Ministry of Economy of Macedonia, Mrs Eli Milusheva from the Ministry of
Economy of Bulgaria, Mrs Zorica Maric from the Ministry of Economy of Serbia and Mrs Gabriele
Pirvu from the Ministry of Economy of Romania contributed in such a way that conference
participants could have overview of the public sector support to the development of SMEs and
clusters in the Balkan countries. A lack of systemic approach to the cluster development and need to
develop more intensive dialogue between public, private and education sectors and the greater
support of government institutions to the cluster development is notable.

The presentation of Mr Werner Pamminger, a High Representative of the European Cluster

Collaborative Platform (ECCP), a member of the Board of TCI Institute of Competitiveness and the
Director of the Austrian "Cluster Land" contributed to the better understanding of the ECCP concept
and the importance of joining the European cluster platform, which includes 900 clusters. Mr
Pamminger stressed the need for support of the government institutions to cluster development. In
the case of the cluster development policy in Upper Austria, which is based on the application of
Porter's approach and has 85 % of SMEs, clusters are funded by government institutions in the
amount of 95%. TCI Global network has 4,000 members from 111 countries and its information
system and networking contributes to the development of the cluster concept worldwide. This
year's "Days of clusters were in the TCI cluster agenda thanks to the support of Mr Christian Ketels ,
the President of TCI and Mrs Patricia Valdenebro .

Presentations of Mr Christoph Beer, the president of the ICT Cluster Bern, the European Cluster
Manager in 2008, and Mr Enric Pedros , a cluster manager of FEMAC Spain , one of the winners of
the "Gold Label " certificate " Cluster Management Excellence " in 2012, attracted the attention of
the Balkan cluster community , so at the end of the conference Ms Slobodanka Jaci , a cluster
manager of the Agro Homolje Cluster from Serbia presented a symbolic gift to Mr Christoph Beer
as a sign of respect for his work and results.

Kua klastera je osnovana na inicijativu klastera iz jugoistone Srbije i uz podrku danskog programa za lokalni ekonomski
razvoj na Balkanu LEDIB.
Cluster House was founded upon the initiative of clusters from South-East Serbia and with support of the Danish
Programme for Local Economic Development in the Balkans LEDIB.
Presentations of Mrs Genoveva Hristova Murry, the Chairwoman of the Furniture Cluster of Bulgaria,
Mr Igor Vijatov , the director of the Automotive clusters of Serbia , Mrs Tatjana Kalezic, a cluster
manager of the Cluster of Creative Industries of Vojvodina , Mr Jose Lucio Gonzalez Jimenez the
Chairman of Madrid Seguridad Cluster, Spain, Mr Nikolay Minkov , the Chairman of the Srednogorie
Med Industrial Cluster from Bulgaria, Mr Ilia Levkov, the Chairman of the Electric Vehicles Industrial
Cluster , Sofia , Mr Ilian Oprev - Health Tourism Cluster, Bulgaria, Mrs Ilze Atanasova, the
Chairwoman of the Marine Cluster Bulgaria , Mrs Alexandra Mandalova, Automotive Cluster
Bulgaria and Mrs Vesna Shkortova from the Organica Macedonia Cluster contributed to the
exchange of knowledge and best practices in establishing and managing cluster organizations , as
well as to the successful realization of the Info Cluster Hour.

A significant contribution to the successful realization of the conference was given by consultants -
experts in the field of cluster development and SMEs, Mr Vedat Kunt, Vego Consulting Managing
Partner from Turkey and Mr Zoltan Bendo from Hungary. On this occasion, Mr Kunt reminded
conference participants of Darwin's dictum that It is not the strongest of the species that survives
or the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
Competition is changing, business models also, but not the human will for a better life. He pointed
out that the only way to success is with managing resources in an effective and efficient manner -
people, finance, technology, information and networking. For the region, it is important to have
resources, but even more important is how region is using the resources. Mr Kunt cited an example
where productivity is directly related to the specialization, in this case a return to the roots of
centuries old copper production. The Cluster of Metal dishes from Turkey has 90 companies in the
value chain and generates 54% of Turkey's production of metal dishes which in 2011 amounted to
$182 million and exports to 60 countries. How to produce something is more important than what is
produced. He emphasized the art as a driver of innovation, advised guidance on building confidence
and the success of a joint activity between cluster members.

Several months long organization of the conference was followed by 7 media including: Nair and
Capital from Bulgaria, and RTS, NTV, Narodne novine", " Juzne vesti and E- kapija from Serbia.

At the end of the conference, Ms Danka Milojkovi the Cluster House Director, the author of the
conference and the co-chair of the Conference organizing committee Days of Clusters 2013"
awarded a certificate of appreciation to Mr Peter Statev, the Chairman of the ABC Association, for
the successful organization of the conference and contribution to the development of clusters in the
Balkans. Acknowledgement of the same content is given to Mr Ventsislav Stoev, the Chairman of the
Bulgarian Medical Tourism cluster in memory of his initiative to organize this year's conference in
Sofia, as well as to Mr Nebojsa Bogdanovic, the Deputy of the Regional Chamber of Commerce in
Nis.

Ms Danka Milojkovi informed conference participants about the idea that the next conference
might be organized in Turkey and on this occasion thanked the Turkish partners for their
participation and discussions pointed to obtain their support in finding the right partner in Turkey to
have the resources to set up Days of Clusters 2014. The date of the next Conference has
traditionally been proposed to be 30th and 31st October 2014.

Kua klastera je osnovana na inicijativu klastera iz jugoistone Srbije i uz podrku danskog programa za lokalni ekonomski
razvoj na Balkanu LEDIB.
Cluster House was founded upon the initiative of clusters from South-East Serbia and with support of the Danish
Programme for Local Economic Development in the Balkans LEDIB.
 Days of Clusters 2013 were the key place where decision-makers from the public administration ,
cluster managers and coordinators , facilitators , mediators and support institutions felt the need to
discuss and make recommendations to the relevant decision-makers at national and European
levels.

The official conclusions of the conference will be forwarded to the relevant institutions and
organizations in the EU and the countries participating in the conference.
Materials from the conference (speakers presentations, list of participants and photos) could be
found on the website of the Cluster House www.clusterhouse.rs

WELCOME TO THE DAYS OF CLUSTERS 2014 to create

A STRONG COMMUNITY OF THE CLUSTERS IN THE BALKANS!

Kua klastera je osnovana na inicijativu klastera iz jugoistone Srbije i uz podrku danskog programa za lokalni ekonomski
razvoj na Balkanu LEDIB.
Cluster House was founded upon the initiative of clusters from South-East Serbia and with support of the Danish
Programme for Local Economic Development in the Balkans LEDIB.