Objectives

The partnership aims at enhancing the level of excellence through strategic plans and joint strategies; in particular, EXTRATEX will bring together clusters in different industrial sectors with a high potentiality of collaboration in technological innovation and technology transfer, namely textile, transports and sustainable materials. The project will enhance innovation capacities, business models, knowledge and skill levels and other key competitive factors that will determine future business opportunities and increased capacities for European industrial actors. Only by developing advanced strategies in cross-sector domains and implementing them through comprehensive action plans the European industry can maintain its global market share and current position vis-à-vis emerging non-European competitors.

Expected benefits

Innovation opportunities and collaboration

Better access of clusters to innovation opportunities and collaboration for cross-sector VCs set up.

knowledge of R&D results

Increased knowledge of R&D results with TRL and transferability (new materials, advanced manufacturing systems, ICT and photonic applications etc.), available for a fast transfer to the industrial level.

Performance

Better access to knowledge through new cross-regional RTD activities, technological and commercial partnerships in key areas of common interest, such as innovations addressing societal challenges, key enabling technologies, non-technological innovations or access to new advanced materials.

Access to knowledge

Better access to knowledge through new cross-regional RTD activities, technological and commercial partnerships in key areas of common interest, such as innovations addressing societal challenges, key enabling technologies, non-technological innovations or access to new advanced materials.

Skills

Advanced technical skills for cluster organizations.

Contacts

Increased contacts among different industrial sectors in Europe for an improved exchange of opportunities and know-how.

Strategic thematic priorities

Cluster strategy

Partnership strategy definition

Inter-regional cooperation increase

Exchange of knowledge and skills increase

Management capacity and certification

Technology transfer increase

Targeted audience

As the European Cluster Excellence Programme requests, the EXTRATEX action refers to all cluster organizations and business network organizations, SMEs that are cluster members and scaling-up support organizations from COSME participating countries. Besides, regional authorities are considered potential target group in EXTRATEX project.

Activities

The Extratex methodology is divided into 4 phases:

1

Creation of a knowledge base

The knowledge base will revise practices and strategies previously implemented in order to put the basis for creating intersectoral cooperation and building synergies.

2

Enhancement of skills

The second phase is focused on designing and delivering added-value support services identified by the consortium in the first phase and also during the proposal preparation.

3

Road-map and strategic collaboration: ClusterXchange Pilot phase and fine-tuning of strategic cooperation.

The closer cooperation between cluster organisations and a strong impulse to the collaboration, networking and learning for cluster organisations will be ensured by several networking activities and ClusterXchange implementation.

4

Marketing Plan and awareness raising

The previous phases will materialise a marketing plan, also sustained by the awareness raising actions.