CADIC Greek Transfer SME Cluster
Focus: Regional Development and Regeneration
CADIC’s Greek transfer Partner The Mediterranean Community was founded in 2009 on Samos Island, Greece, and has developed an innovation cluster in the area of sustainable maritime tourism.
During the period of the CADIC FP7 project (2010-2013), the catalyst SME in this innovation cluster was Bioenersis, whose business activities integrated:
- Organizing Events with local SMEs
- Training & Development
- Counselling
Initial Cluster Development:
Bioenersis’ cluster formation process was based on the need of SMEs for the realisation of a series of events. These events were originally thought of and designed in order to sustain and promote a regional area and hence, its businesses, and to establish the notion of joint actions in the local market, which triggered the concept of bottom-up clustering.
Clustering Goals:
During the FP7 project period the Sustainable maritime tourism innovation cluster SMES composed a is a small group of mainly service providers, yet now this innovation cluster expands to other sectors of commerce, such as media and printing, professionals in the areas of movie production and of construction, and NGOs specialised in natural environment protection and sustainability,
Since 2013 the Mediterranean Community has extended the innovation cluster membership internationally and to focus on promoting Sustainable maritime tourism throughout the Eastern mediterranean region, using the motifs "Ancient Mediterranean Ports" and "Mediterranean Maritime Silk Road" to sustain and promote maritime communities through the regeneration of SMEs that joint innovation can instigate.
CADIC video case study:
Click here to view a video case study of how Mediterranean Innovation cluster member ”BioEnersis”, using the CADIC methodology, developed a SME cluster in Samos bottom-up, finding and profiting from collaborative advantage.
