Catalonia, benchmark region in South Korea’s main clusters meeting

South Korea has chosen Catalonia as the guest region to expose its experience in cluster policy during the main meeting on this subject held in Seoul. The event is organized by Korea Industrial Complex Corporation (KICOX), an affiliate of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, dedicated to cluster support.

The meeting has brought together the Korean cluster ecosystem, including members of the KICOX network, businessmen and representatives of the Korean government. For Catalonia Trade & Investment’s Cluster Manager, Joan Martí, "it is very significant that Korea chose Catalonia as a benchmark in cluster policy, among all the countries in the world that promote business competitiveness through this instrument”. "It's especially important since Korea is one of the main global economic models, leading Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s most innovative economies" he added. Catalonia’s speech focused on the explanation of the Catalan cluster strategy, the main promotion instruments and their application in the promotion of business competitiveness.

KICOX, which has more than 50 years of experience, currently groups 100 clusters and 10,000 members including companies, universities and technology centers that account for 35.5% of production, 35% of exports and 28.3% of the occupation of the country. During the month of November, a delegation of Korean clusters will visit Catalonia to exchange synergies and seek opportunities for collaboration with their Catalan counterparts. Both territories’ clusters first met in 2016 during the V Strategic Training Week, an activity organized by Catalonia Trade & Investment to promote alliances between the two ecosystems.

Catalonia has more than 25 years of experience in the development of clusters, through the Catalonia Clusters program. This initiative is promoted by the Catalan Government through Catalonia Trade & Investment, with the aim of fostering the collaboration between companies and entities in the same so that they can share resources, generate synergies and project themselves internationally. The 28 Catalan clusters currently included in the program bring together 2,200 companies with a turnover of 74,000 million euros and more than 300,000 employees.