13 Lessons• 1 - Clustering: emergent or deliberate

• 2 - Cluster development: Deliberate strategy

• 3 - Co-location: important but not fundamental– More relevant for natural resource based clusters than high tech

• 4 - Clusters: Connect Macroeconomic Health with Microeconomic Wealth

– SME’s inclusion– Anchor : Larger Firm

• 5 - Intense rivalry might be more important than competition

• 6 - Critical to build consensus– Agree direction– Agree execution– Agree challenges and solutions– Political and Social Dimension

• 7 - Trust– Collaboration across value chain and clusters– Orchestrating agencies to access critical data– Cluster champions

• 8 - Collaborative space: Supply chain, Procurement, Marketing

13 Lessons

• 9 - Cluster Development is less of a technical challenge but more a social and cultural one

– Social exchange as important as economic exchange

• 10 - Cluster Development: Lead by entrepreneurs, enabled by government

• 11 - Cluster development has to be demand driven and customer centric

• 12 - Cluster Development takes time

• 13 - Regionalization of Clusters is imperative for the Caribbean

13 Lessons

NEXT STEPS• 1 - Market Intelligence

– Link Demand to Clustering Opportunities– Granular understanding of regional growth opportunities

• 2 - Understand the value chain, the cluster composition, and the linkages across clusters.• 3 - Identify relevant opportunities:

– High impact– Global appeal– Insert in the most attractive profit pools in the value chain

• 4 - Incorporate the private sector and entrepreneurs in the whole process.• 5 - April 2012: Regional Forum on Agribusiness Cluster Development.

• 6 - Train the trainers program for cluster managers