Today, Upper Austria is the nation's leading federal province with regard to industry and exports and also stands up extremely well to international comparison. Once again, the magic word is networking, this time by way of cluster initiatives with pow-erful companies in our major areas of economic strength. Clusters facilitate innova-tions, accelerate them and bring them to market maturity, thus ensuring long-term, economic success for the companies involved. Clusters constitute an efficient in-strument for the concentration of resources and funding, the achievement of critical mass and the guaranteed dissemination of expertise and know-how. In this manner, both the local economy and the location can be strengthened on a sustained basis!

Clusters also play an important role in the area of internationalisation. They serve as a cross-border "bridgehead" and institute teamwork at both regional and state level.

Upper Austria has been operating a successful, cluster-oriented innovation policy since 1988 and from the outset has always co-operated with other, innovative re-gions. As a consequence, Upper Austria has established itself as a leading compe-tence centre for cluster initiatives. A fact underlined by numerous expert evalua-tions, which describe Upper Austria as, "A model example of innovative and suc-cessful cluster policy."

International networking as a success factor In addition to networking at domestic level, cross-border and inter-regional co-operation are of special significance. This fact also finds recognition in the "Innovative Upper Austria 2010" strategic programme, which foresees strong international links for the Upper Austrian clusters and network initiatives aimed at creating clear ad-vantages for business and industry.

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By initiating the first meeting at the Karlsruhe Research Centre (FZK), a Supraregional Network for Nanotechnology Materials in conjunction with the Economic Development Department Karlsruhe has launched the NanoForum in the form of a discussion group in one of the key industry growth sectors of the future - nanotechnology.

The participants - from research and industry (the University of Karlsruhe, the Karlsruhe Research Centre, the Frauenhofer Institute for Chemical Technology, Bosch, Bruker, Physik Instrumente (PI) and Palas), discussed all the themes related to the current trends, the new industrial applications and the ways to foster the networking within the co-operation partners from Karlsruhe and the Technology Region.

Dr. Regine Hedderich, managing director of the NanoMat network, informed the delegation about the nanotechnological activities performed by the Karlsruhe Research Centre and ten universities co-operating on nanotechnology programmes.

Dr. Jonathan Löffler from the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ) emphasised the importance of collaboration between industry and research institutions, bringing up the results of the recent European project for launching nanotechnology products and processes.

Nanotechnology, situated at the interface between physicochemical analytics and biology, lays the foundation for innovations in diverse fields: the automotive, electrical, optical industries as well as medical technologies, Life Sciences or new materials. Application know-how can be promoted with the government seed money about EUR 200.000, funded by the supporting programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

"The successful set-up of the NanoForum provides an incentive to continue with the discussion group", pointed out Ralf Eichhorn from the Economic Development Department Karlsruhe. The next scheduled meeting will be in spring 2006 at the Frauenhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal-Berghausen.

Project co-financed by the E.U.: CLOE - Clusters Linked over Europe:

• CLOE creates an automotive industry and suppliers network at the suppliers fair "Interpart"
• Zurich, Nottingham, a Turkish and a Spanish region are interested in co-operating with the network of European's outstanding cluster regions

By initiating in 2004 the project "CLOE: Clusters linked over Europe" (www.clusterforum.org), Karlsruhe created a network with the European regions of Lyon/France, Linz/Upper Austria, Wermland/Sweden, Tartu/Estonia, Timisoara/Romania and Kaliningrad/Russia to form the "European Network of Excellence for Cluster Experience, Management, Matching and Promotion".

The partners - mostly economic development agencies and chambers of industry and commerce - intend to establish closer links between their regions' highly developed sectors reinforcing their activities and services in the field of economic development; in this way, the regions can be marketed as locations for commerce and investment within Europe and beyond, for example in the USA or Asia, and they can promote themselves to particular industrial sectors.

At the suppliers fair INTERPART held at Neue Messe Karlsruhe from 4 to 6 October 2005, the partners therefore organised an international industry workshop with participants mostly from the automotive suppliers sector. During this workshop and the CLOE evening reception given by Bürgermeister Groh, Deputy Mayor in charge of economic affairs, at the stand shared by CLOE and the regional "Automotive Engineering Network Southwest" (AEN), companies had the opportunity to establish direct contact with foreign enterprises and to get useful information for their activities in foreign markets. The members of the automotive cluster networks set down their decision to reinforce co-operation in a "Memorandum of Understanding". In a joint action with Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, CLOE also held a partnering event at its own fair stand where direct talks between companies were prepared and organised.

The contribution made to CLOE by Karlsruhe as the so-called Lead Partner and project initiator are regional and supraregional networks such as the Automotive Engineering Network Southwest (AEN) (www.aen-network.de), Mobile Region Karlsruhe (www.mobileregionkarlsruhe.de), CyberForum (www.cyberforum.de) and the nanotechnology network Nanomat (www.nanomat.de"); they give valuable impetus for innovation to companies from Karlsruhe and the Technology Region and bring together partners from research, science and industry.

The project CLOE extends this competence to the whole of Europe making it easier for companies from the European member regions to gain access to new markets in Europe, to benefit from know-how accumulated in these regions and to take an innovative lead in global competition.

Just as Nottingham, a Turkish and a Spanish region, Zurich as an economic region and cluster area in Switzerland has shown interest in co-operating with CLOE, and this shows that CLOE's activities receive attention in Europe and that it has established itself as a kind of brand name. By concluding a partnership agreement these cities and regions could benefit as associated partners from CLOE's know-how, from its innovation network and world wide marketing. Talks on their admission are underway.

The project CLOE - Clusters Linked over Europe that has a worth of 1.8 million € and a duration of three years is co-financed by the European Commission within the framework of the programme Interreg III C.

The partnership network of CLOE - Clusters linked over Europe - that focuses on the management of industry clusters in several European regions developed a cooperation agreement with IRC project run by Steinbeis European Centre (Germany). IRC is a network of 200 partner organisations from 33 European countries supported by the European Commission.

First joint cooperation action is the organisation of CLOE-Automotive-Workshop and a partnering event which takes place in automotive industry fair INTERPART on October 5, 2005 in Karlsruhe, Germany. In case of the success of this first action further detailed cooperation plan will be developed between two EU-funded networks. It is strongly believed by the partners of CLOE and IRC networks that both projects will benefit widely from bringing together network organisations and creating synergetic effect for achieving their objectives.

CLOE project that is operated by the Economic Development Department of Karlsruhe City Council and includes partners from Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, Estonia, Romania and Russia will gather together with their cluster initiatives and industrial partners at the trade fair for automotive sup-pliers INTERPART, taking place in Karlsruhe October 4-6, 2005.

CLOE-Clusters linked over Europe is a pan-European project with an overall budget of 1.8 million € and is co-financed by the European support programme Interreg IIIC. It is run by the Economic Devel-opment Department of Karlsruhe City Council with special focus on the economic sectors of automotive industry, IT/Mobile communications and nanotechnology. Project lasts from July 2004 until July 2007.

Karlsruhe, Germany, 9 June 2005 - A new network funded by INTERREGIIIC is helping seven regions to exchange experience and information about managing and developing successful clusters.

Clusters are networks of compatible or competitive interrelated companies working together to strengthen an industry in a particular area. They make it easier for companies to gather good practice and exchange information in a given region and within a specific industry.

The new network, CLOE, targets cluster managers and SMEs involved in cluster initiatives across Europe. It is accelerating the cluster building process and offering clusters insight into what has been developed by their counterparts in other industries and regions so that the best tools, methods and processes can be used by all.

It is also fostering co-operation directly between cluster SMEs operating in the same industry, enhancing their understanding of their sector and helping them to identify future business partners. The idea for CLOE, which launched in December 2004 and lasts until June 2007, came from the City of Karlsruhe, whose office of economic development is leading the operation. Karlsruhe, a three-time winner of the European Commission's 'Award of Excellence for Innovative Regions', had worked on an INTERREGIIIA project (PEP) showing the benefits of linking regional clusters with clusters in other regions and decided to develop a new network to promote further cooperation.

Nine cities and regions from seven European countries are taking part. This includes agencies from one new EU Member State (Estonia) and two from neighbouring countries Romania and Russia. All of those involved are representatives from economic development organisations or Chambers of Commerce who want to establish business relations, collaborate in the highly developed sectors of their regions and expand their capacities in Europe.

Having recently gained the backing of INTERREG IIIC West, CLOE will receive EUR 800 000 from the European Regional Development Fund. Its total budget is EUR 1 808 000. CLOE is taking brand building seriously as it works to improve the visibility of clusters in Europe and beyond. 'Our main focus at the moment is preparing for the INTERPART trade fair, which is being held in Karlsruhe in October,' says Ralf Eichhorn from the City of Karlsruhe's economic development unit. 'Many international companies will be attending, which gives us a great opportunity to publicise the clusters involved in the network and to get CLOE recognised as a brand both in Europe and beyond.'

Eichhorn adds that a representative of CLOE's Estonian partner, Tartu Science Park, is travelling to China at the end of 2005 for a major international event and intends to publicise the operation. 'Again, that is a good opening for us to show Chinese companies and investors that there are clusters in Europe with expertise that they could use,' he says.

CLOE is also organising good practice workshops and industry-specific workshops, producing a cluster management guide and developing a website for internal and external communications. The website has now gone live at www.clusterforum.org.

The most recent workshop was held in Värmland in Sweden, where cluster managers discussed the expertise of clusters based in the region. In Värmland, they are primarily involved in the automotive industry, IT, communication technologies and packaging. The next workshop is being held during INTERPART.

CLOE is also launching a scholarship scheme at the HECTOR School of Engineering and Management in Karlsruhe, which provides technological, management and leadership training. Young professionals from any of the partner regions can apply to study for a master's degree at the school, as long as they are employed by a company participating in the network. All programmes, which start in October 2005, are run on a part time basis and taught in English.

CLOE has already begun to attract interest from outside the partner regions. Zurich in Switzerland has contacted the operation about the possibility of joining, as has Nottingham in the UK. The network continues to make new connections, and hopes to attract more partners from other European countries before long.

Eichhorn stresses that CLOE is not just about swapping expertise within the same industry. 'You have to provide links for clusters working in different industries if you want to foster innovation,' he says. 'In the automotive industry, for example, IT is one of the key areas of development, so linking companies in those two sectors can be incredibly valuable.'

For further information on CLOE, please write to Ralf Eichhorn at ralf.eichhorn@wifoe.karlsruhe.de or call +49 (0) 721 133 7340.

Am 8. Dezember 2004 startete das Projekt "CLOE: Clusters linked over Europe" offiziell mit der Auftaktveranstaltung in Karlsruhe. Mit dem Projekt vernetzen sich Karlsruhe und die Technologie Region mit den europäischen Regionen Lyon/Frankreich, Linz/Oberösterreich, Wermland/Schweden, Tartu/Estland, Temeswar/Rumänien und Kaliningrad/Russland.

Die Partner - überwiegend Wirtschaftsförderungen und Kammern - wollen die jeweils stark entwickelten Wirtschaftsbranchen ihrer Regionen enger miteinander verbinden, damit ihre bestehenden regionalen Aktivitäten und Wirtschaftsförderungsleistungen verstärken und sich so als Wirtschafts- und Investitionsstandorte unter anderem auch außerhalb Europas wie beispielsweise in den USA bzw. in Asien vermarkten und für bestimmte Industriebranchen empfehlen.

Karlsruhe als sogenannter Lead-Partner und Initiator des Projektes bringt insbesondere dabei seine bestehende Kompetenz in den Bereichen Automobilbau, Informationstechnologie / Mobile Kommunikation, die Mikrosystemtechnik bzw. in der Nanotechnologie ein.

Mit den Initiativen Automotive Engineering Network Südwest AEN (www.aen-network.de), Mobile Region Karlsruhe (www.mobileregionkarlsruhe.de) oder dem Nanotechnologie-Netzwerk Nanomat (www.nanomat.de) bestehen regionale bzw. überregionale Netzwerke, die den Unternehmen in Karlsruhe und der TechnologieRegion wichtige Innovationsimpulse und eine aktive Vernetzung von Partnern aus Forschung, Wissenschaft und Industrie bieten.

Das Projekt CLOE erweitert diese Kompetenz auf Gesamteuropa und bietet damit für Unternehmen der beteiligten europäischen Regionen die Möglichkeit, sich neue Marktzugänge innerhalb Europas zu erschließen, auf Know-How aus diesen vernetzten europäischen Regionen zuzugreifen und sich einen Innovationsvorsprung im globalen Wettbewerb zu sichern.

In dem rund drei Jahre laufenden Projekt sind der Austausch von Erfahrungen im Aufbau von Branchenclustern/-initiativen, die Entwicklung einer Internet-Plattform, der Austausch von Studenten und die gemeinsame internationale Vermarktung und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit der europäischen Partnerregionen geplant.

So wird sich CLOE mit seinen Partnern mit einem Stand und einem Podium auf der vom 4. bis 6. Oktober 2005 in Karlsruhe statt findenden Automobilzulieferermesse "Interpart" erstmals präsentieren. Im Rahmen der Interpart wird auch die Internetseite www.clusterforum.org als wegweisende Plattform vorgestellt. Ziel ist es, führendes Kommunikations- und Informationsinstrument für Clustermanager und die Industrie europaweit zu werden.

Das Projekt CLOE - Clusters linked over Europe mit einem Gesamtvolumen von 1,52 Mio. € bei einer Laufzeit von drei Jahren wird aus dem europäischen Förderprogramm Interreg III C von der Europäischen Kommission ko-finanziert.

Für weitere Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte an steffen.buhl@wifoe.karlsruhe.de

Am 8. Juni informierte sich eine 50-köpfige Wirtschaftsdelegation aus dem Iran über die Strategien der Karlsruher Wirtschaftsförderung. Besonderes Interesse fand dabei die Vorstellung der Netzwerke und Methoden, die Existenzgründern als Hilfestellung in der Startphase ihrer Unternehmen zur Verfügung gestellt werden, die der Direktor der Wirtschaftsförderung, Dr. Horst Zajonc, durchführte. Durch Präsentationen der Technologiefabrik Karlsruhe und des International Departments, in dessen Räumen die Begrüßung der Delegation statt fand, wurde die enge Verzahnung von Forschung, Bildungseinrichtungen und Industrie in Karlsruhe verdeutlicht.

Am 11. Juli besuchte eine Delegation der südbrasilianischen Stadt Blumenau unter der Leitung des Bürgermeisters Dr. Joao Paulo Kleinubing die Wirtschaftsförderung Karlsruhe. Im Rahmen des Treffens wurde eine enge Zusammenarbeit bei Wirtschafts- und Forschungsprojekten, der Firmenansiedlung sowie ein Erfahrungsaustausch der Wirtschaftsförderungen vereinbart. Dem Besuch waren im April erste Sondierungsgespräche vorausgegangen.

Indien hat nach China die besten wirtschaftlichen Wachstumsraten weltweit und verzeichnet gerade für deutsche Exporteure einen erhebliche Zuwachs. Dabei liegt ein Augenmerk auch auf dem in Indien boomenden Automobilsektor. Bei seinem Besuch am 13.07.2005 bestätigte der indische Botschafter diese Kernaussagen.

Am 21. September 2005 findet im DaimlerCrysler-Werk in Rastatt die 4. PAMINA-Zukunftswerkstatt statt. Weitere Informationen dazu gibt es unter www.pamina-business.com oder unter der Rufnummer (0721) 133 - 73 40 bei Ralf Eichhorn von der Wirtschaftsförderung Karlsruhe.

Die CLOE-Netzwerkpartner aus Karlsruhe/Deutschland, Linz/Österreich, Lyon/Frankreich, Wermland/Schweden, Tartu/Estland, Timisoara/ Rumänien, Kaliningrad/Russland haben einen ersten Focus auf den Automotivbereich gerichtet und werden mit ihren Clusterinitiativen und Partnern aus der Industrie auf einem Gemeinschaftsstand auf der Automobilzuliefermesse "INTERPART" vom 04. - 06. Oktober 2005 in Karlsruhe präsent sein.

Bei Wirtschaftsgesprächen in Nottingham signalisierte die Partnerstadt die Bereitschaft zur Beteiligung am CLOE -Netzwerk. Der Besuch zeigte, dass Nottingham seine Schwerpunkte ebenfalls auf Nanotechnologie, Automotive und Mobile Kommunikation setzt.

Das Centre Culturel Franco-Allemand bietet speziell für Unternehmen mit Geschäftspartnern im französischsprachigen Ausland Sprachkurse in Wirtschaftsfranzösisch an. Auf der Homepage www.ccf-ka.de können weitere Informationen dazu abgerufen werden.