The ECCP has developed 56 country factsheets on cluster policies and programmes across Europe and third priority countries. The country factsheets are largely based on desk research at national level (mostly in the national language) and have been subject to validation with the national authorities.
The factsheets analyse the national industrial ecosystems and cluster landscape, providing insights on statistical clusters and national cluster organisations. They provide an overview on the cluster policy, programmes and initiatives at national level, assessing the state of play of cluster policy in terms of evaluation, approach, continuity and consistency through a scoring system that allows cross-national comparison.
The country factsheets and summary report are yearly updated with latest information.
Summary report
The overall results of this analysis are outlined in the current version of the summary report (December 2022), which highlights the most interesting findings regarding cluster policies and programmes across Europe and priority third countries and to provide evidence-based recommendations on how to further address the needs for policy actions.
The main findings of the summary report 2022 are the following:
Out of 56 countries analysed, 28 have a dedicated cluster policy (out of which, 15 are in the EU 1), either at national, regional or both levels.
Different EU cluster policies and support tools focus on the future development and enhancement of the European cluster landscape including support platforms and partnering projects (e.g. Euroclusters).
Almost 1,400 cluster organisations (1,398) are profiled on the ECCP out of which 78% (1,091) are in the EU27. On average, cluster organisations in the EU27 have around 170 members.
Cluster support aims mostly at strengthening innovation ecosystems (89%), SME support (89%), R&D support (88%), industry-research collaboration (85%), internationalisation (82%), and upskilling (80%).
EU Member States have a long tradition of dedicated cluster policies. In total, 51% of the EU Member States have more than 10 years of experience in implementing cluster-specific policies.
Around 18% of the 56 countries are having a monitoring, and ex-ante evaluation or are interim evaluation for their cluster policies or cluster-related policies in place.
1 Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Estonia, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain.
Cluster Policy Country factsheets (2021 version)
Read the country factsheets to learn more on cluster policies and programmes across Europe and third priority countries.
European Union
Cluster Policy Country factsheets (2022 version)
Read the country factsheets to learn more on cluster policies and programmes across Europe and priority third countries. More information on the methodology can be found in the methodological note.
