Economic development practitioners, cluster managers, policy makers and regional leaders from around Australia, NZ, Fiji, South Korea and Vietnam gathered in Adelaide earlier this year to explore how innovation clusters can contribute to future growth and national competitiveness.
This year's Innovation and Competitiveness Summit (1-3 June), an initiative of TCI-Network Oceania and supported by RDA Brisbane, featured international cluster experts Dr Christian Ketels (Michael E Porter's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School), Ifor Ffowcs-Williams (Cluster Navigators Ltd, NZ), and Bjarne E. Jensen (REG LAB and Cluster Excellence, Denmark).
Delegates also heard Australian perspectives from Chris Burns, CEO of South Australia's Defence Teaming Centre, one of Australia's long term cluster initiatives; Dr Allan O'Connor, Academic Director of Post Graduate Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University Of Adelaide; and Dr Mirjana Prica, Managing Director of FIAL (Food Innovation Australia Ltd).
Dr Jen Cleary, Chair, RDA Far North South Australia and Chair of RDA's Chair's Reference Group, outlined the economic opportunities and challenges for Australian regions and how a cluster-based approach for increased collaboration and innovation would be beneficial to many regional communities.
The summit was preceded by a full day bus tour of some of South Australia's high performing and emerging clusters, including Barossa Valley Food & Wine, Health & Medical Devices, Aviation & Aerospace and Music Technology, and concluded with a final day of workshops on clusters for collaboration, innovation and competitiveness.
Read the full Summit Communique
See our Resources page for all Summit presentations.
