Stratinc: a regional policy blueprint highlighting the uses of strategic intelligence in cluster policy

Abstract

This blueprint on Strategic Intelligence and Innovative Clusters is the result of a collaborative project of more than two years in duration which brought together 6 European regions and whose work is at the forefront of cluster policy. Its production was made possible by support from the EU’s Interreg III C programme, which was designed to promote inter-regional cooperation in key policy areas such as the economy, social policy, and common cultural challenges. The regions and organizations that took part in the project are: * The Region of Lorraine, and 3i Lorraine, CEIS, and CRITT Bois * The Region of Northrhine Westphalia, and ZENIT GmbH * The Region of Central Macedonia, and URENIO * The Region of Murcia, and INFO * The Region of Tenerife, and Mancommunidad del Norte de Tenerife * The Region of Oslo, and Oslo TEKNOPOL. The blueprint brings together two areas of research: (1) Innovative clusters, business-led PPP, which draws on its members’ capabilities to realise the commercially successful exploitation of new technologies, ideas or methods through the introduction new products or processes, or through the improvement of existing ones, and (2) Intelligence provided in support of strategic decision making in business, including foresight, economic intelligence, knowledge management and benchmarking, and excluding the geo-strategic and military connotations of the term as employed by State intelligence services. The blueprint explores and seeks to understand the extent to which strategic intelligence tools (knowledge management, benchmarking, foresight) are able to support the creation of innovating clusters: -by enabling firms in a region belonging to the same productive system and business context to forsee the changes in markets and technologies which may affect them, -by improving their competitiveness through innovation, and -by designing governance systems capable of fostering collaborative strategies and implementing appropriate business development tools.