22 February 2016
The 22 cluster and precluster associations in the Basque Country have met today at the University of Deusto (Donostia-San Sebastián) to reflect on their activity in light of the European and global tendencies on this matter.
This is the third meeting organised by SPRI and Orkestra, with these institutions. During the previous meetings future challenges and cluster policies were discussed, as well as the role that they should play in the smart specialisation RIS3 process.
The researchers from Orkestra, Aitziber Elola, Anastasiia Konstantynova and James Wilson, have held this session in which they have underlined the importance of evaluating the clusters’ activity. They carried out a joint reflection on good practices and challenges of this activity evaluation of the cluster associations, answering the following questions: How can we compile adequate/necessary information (qualitative/quantitative) without over-evaluating?; How can we measure the confidence built and the strength of the collaboration?; How can we be sure that what is evaluated is useful for both clusters and policy makers?
As James Wilson pointed out in his presentation, cluster evaluation is a challenge on its own, as its results are often seen in the long term, as well as being a heterogeneous field. Furthermore, cluster policies interact with many other competitiveness policies, which sometimes makes the border between one and the other unclear. James added that, “it is necessary to carry out the evaluation as a learning process, more than as a tool to measure, and break the barriers and fears of evaluating”.
