Abstract
Our purpose with this article is to show the importance of assessing trends and promoting innovation in a real business context, through a cluster ecosystem, mainly composed of micro-enterprises in the agro-industrial Portuguese sector. As many studies show, Inovcluster (which has 158 associates, from which 120 are enterprises) is also a geographic region cluster, which improves innovation performance of businesses seeking to gain competitiveness and ability to improve their exportations in the agro-industrial Portuguese sector. The role of the cluster is fundamental to creating a model for knowledge transfer of innovation capacity, interconnecting its institutional, scientific and business associates. This model has to be adapted to the sector and enterprise characteristics, relying in an interconnecting structure which is more or less decentralized according to the mentioned features. Here we present an experience and case study of the Inovcluster ecosystem and its trends and innovation transfer to business value creation, contextualized within the regional strategy for smart specialization. We have shown how, through the establishment of an Inovcluster network, it is possible to integrate the contribution of different research and academic centres, channelled to assist micro-enterprises by innovating within a geographical constraint.
Highlights
Inovcluster, created in May 2009, is a cluster association based in a strategic cooperation between entities seeking a series of values, principles and methodologies that complement each other
About 30% of Inovcluster members are located outside the territorial scope recognized for the Agro-industrial Centre Cluster membership
The Cluster designed its strategy towards this aim. It sought to integrate the different activity areas so that it was possible to enhance and achieve its main goal, as shown in figure 1. This preoccupation led Inovcluster to develop its own model of knowledge transfer, grounded in the main theoretical scientific concepts in the study field of innovation, trends and smart specialization (Foray et al, 2012)
Summary
Inovcluster, created in May 2009, is a cluster association based in a strategic cooperation between entities seeking a series of values, principles and methodologies that complement each other. The Cluster designed its strategy towards this aim It sought to integrate the different activity areas so that it was possible to enhance and achieve its main goal, as shown in figure 1. This preoccupation led Inovcluster to develop its own model of knowledge transfer, grounded in the main theoretical scientific concepts in the study field of innovation, trends and smart specialization (Foray et al, 2012). The cluster seeks to boost the relationships between its associates and promote strategic development to help them launch new products or innovate in services, thereby reaching new markets and developing new processes
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