3.4.2. Report of the Hubs Actors and 3.4.1. List of Actors operating in the Cluster Hub This project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the ERDF. International Report of the Hubs Actors and List of Actors operating in the Cluster Hub Introduction With the C-Plus project partners from 6 countries in Central Europe aim to find key elements that could improve the development of clusters towards world-class. Efficient cluster management, applying successful strategies to foster cooperation and enhance innovation capability of the cluster strengthens the network relations between the cluster members and improves their competitiveness. As a basis for further project activities this “Report of the Hubs Actors” provides insight in the clusters’ innovation processes within the regions. The report describes the innovative environment of the clusters and points out which factors enhance innovation activities of SME. This leads to a clear view on innovation in the regions and within the clusters, describing the management strategy, innovation related activities and the organisational structure of the clusters. Additionally the Report of the Hubs Actors identifies the most influential cluster actors / stakeholders and the role they play for driving the clusters’ development towards world class. Complementary to the “Report of the Hubs Actors” this Annex will provide a complete overview on all the actors in the 12 partnering clusters of the C-Plus project. Grouped by partnering countries the “Lists of Actors Operating in the Cluster Hub” show all cluster members of the clusters. The lists identify all relevant stakeholders (companies, research and development institutions / universities, other stakeholders) of the 12 clusters involved in C-Plus. IMU-Institut Berlin International Report of the Hubs Actors and List of Actors operating in the Cluster Hub Austria Report of the Hubs Actors Report of the Hubs Actors – Austria Innovation in the Region Upper Austria Upper Austria has a cluster-oriented economic and technology policy. The activation of innovation or market potentials or rather synergies through cooperation between companies stands in the center of the Upper Austrian policy. This brought the state in the position as region of competence for cluster initiatives and networks (4C foresee, 2009). This is in line with the huge amount of clusters and organized networks within Upper Austria beside the Mechatronics Cluster, including the Automobil-Cluster, Kunststoff-Cluster, Möbel- und Holzbau-Cluster, Gesundheits-Cluster, Umwelttechnik-Cluster, Netzwerk Humanressourcen, Netzwerk Design & Medien, Netzwerk Ressourcen- und Energieeffizienz, Lebensmittelcluster OÖ, Ökoenergie-Cluster, and Verein Netzwerk Logistik (Altmann, 2011). Meanwhile the cluster initiatives have evolved into industry-specific innovation services (4C foresee, 2009). There is a special strategic program building the framework for the strategy and process of innovation funding. It concerns five ranges of topics including R&D, professional qualifications, networks, the business and technology location Upper Austria and EU networking. With the help of this program it is tried to strengthen R&D massively – which is also a central goal. Forces should be joined and cooperation between economy and research institutes reinforced. Furthermore, it is also tried to get women to technical apprenticeships, force further education of employees and adjust professional educational structures to economical needs in order to create jobs with future and employees with innovation-oriented qualifications. With respect to professional networks, focus is put on stabilizing, further developing and increasing the international orientation of the Clusterland Upper Austria. This means pursuing existing cluster initiatives and cross-industry networks, creating a strategic concept, acquiring subsidies for innovative cooperation projects and organizing a professional guidance of cooperative R&D projects in Upper Austria (4C foresee, 2009). A statistic from the beginning of the year 2005 including cluster ratios, qualifications and cooperation projects showed that at this point in time 1.648 companies were involved in the cluster activities employing approx. 252.000 people. 575 events were held which had around 24.000 participants. 255 projects were carried out including nearly 1.000 partners. The total innovation volume of the Upper Austrian clusters was stated with 70.08 Mio. EUR (4C foresee, 2009). The R&D spending in Upper Austria is about 1.37 times higher than the R&D spending of an average state in Austria (see Table 1). The number of employees in the R&D area in Upper Austria is also about 1.36 times higher than in an average Austrian state, as shown by Table 2. Table 3 provides information about the R&D spending per type of R&D (basic research, applied research and experimental development). With reference to Upper Austria, basic research accounts for about 9%, applied research for about 39.2% and experimental about 51.8%. While basic research in Upper Austria is below average, the state has the second highest R&D spending in experimental development after Vienna and the third highest R&D spending in applied research after Vienna and Styria. CAMPUS 02 University of Applied Sciences Report of the Hubs Actors – Austria Styria Styria was the first Austrian state which invested in clusters. Cluster organizations are an additional instrument of the state’s economic and innovation policy. Science, education and the commercial sector have strong relationships. Through these connections it is possible to make precise analyses of future needs. According to the economic strategy published in 2006, the establishment of clusters took hold as important economic- and technology-policy instrument and can therefore be seen as robust policy concept since the 1990s. In 2009 seven different cluster activities were counted which are led by SFG (Styrian economic promotion). Among these clusters were ACstyria, Creative Industries Styria, ECO World Styria, timber cluster Styria, Human.technology Styria, material cluster Styria and TECHFORTASTE.NET. Core topics of these clusters are automobile, mobility, environmental technology, grocery technology, wood, paper, human technology, materials and creative industries. Depending on the sector a cluster can have up to 200 partner companies (4C foresee, 2009). Already in 2006 the medium- and long-term positioning of clusters played an important role. It was tried to synchronize the cluster landscape’s strategies with regional knowledge bases and further support cluster and network organizations. Core topics in this context were among other things further development of young clusters and networks, the expansion of strength fields, continuous further support of existing clusters/networks and support in operating interregional and international. The creation of clusters and networks is firmly established in the Styrian mission statement “Innovation serienmäßig”. Besides six other guidelines it constitutes a central element strongly interconnected with innovation, internationalization, qualification and business formation (4C foresee, 2009). The overall cluster initiative’s work logic follows some principles. For each cluster or organized network a limited company is founded acting as sponsoring organization. At the beginning SFG is the 100% owner. In order to create a public-private-relationship 49%, of the shares will be transferred to the scientific and industrial sector after establishing the organization and finishing the strategy and positioning process. In this way, the sponsorship is broadened and economy, science and public sector are synchronized for the first time. During the development process the amount of SFG’s authorised capital is reduced to 26%. With respect to the size of the sponsoring organizations it can be said that approx. 6 people are employed in average. Depending on the maturity level of the cluster the budget ranges from 600 and 1.200 Mio. EUR. Financing can be described as mix of annual partner contributions (the amount is depending on the company size and sector-specific sales), sponsor contributions and subsidies from SFG (4C foresee, 2009). Working levels comprise of company building, strategy development and community building. The range of tasks or rather typical program lines of cluster organizations are situated in the following areas: (i) creation of maximal transparency within the respective strength field; (ii) development of databases on the respective landscape of actors; (iii) information and communication about future trends and debate about relevance and consequences for the fields of strength; (iv) initiation of technology and knowledge-transfer processes; (v) conduction of workshops and events; (vi) development of cooperative projects in the area of technology, innovation, organization and marketing; (vii) determination of qualification requirements and development of cluster-specific offers for further education and training with the existing education infrastructure; (viii) construction of a unique location and competence profile und support of company settlement activities and CAMPUS 02 University of Applied Sciences Report of the Hubs Actors – Austria marketing measures of the location; and (ix) contribution to sector-specific internationalization and export programs as well as the development of key projects (4C foresee, 2009). The R&D spending in Styria is clearly above the R&D spending