Ten steps to cluster heavenIfor Ffowcs-Williams

Cluster Lab: Cluster facilitator’s toolbox

4 September 2013

Ten Steps toCluster Heaven

Ifor Ffowcs-WilliamsNew Zealand

Ten Steps to Cluster Heaven

OR

1. Narrowly define the clusterIdentify the cluster’s hot spots

Cluster development…Centre StageNot just ‘another project’

2. Position Cluster Development

Centre StageA comprehensive framework for:

R&D, Technology transferSME development; Start-ups

Investment & talent attractionSkills, training; workforce developmentIncubators & Industry/Technology Parks

Export development, internationalisation

3. Transparency in Strategy Workshops open to all

1. Capture ‘the wisdom of crowds’2. Broad agreement on issues,

priorities3. Neutral meeting place• Opportunities for side

conversations

3. Transparency in StrategyDrawing on both sides of the brain

Logic Details

Safe

FeelingsBig pictureRisk taking

4. The Right Team for Leadership The Cluster’s Governance

• Business led; Business Chaired• The players, not the spectators• An aggressive self-help team• Initially select; later elect

Cluster LeadershipThree key principles

1. Business in the Lead

2. Public Agencies in Support

3. Academic Underpinning

5. Establish the Baseline DataMeasure change over time

What’s on your cluster’s dashboard?• Growth in turnover, exports? • Growth in employment? Number of

Ph.D.?• Number of firms in the cluster? Start-

ups?• Increased competitiveness?• Measured by market share? Productivity?

• …. ?

6. Listen!

• Listen carefully to the needs of your cluster’s stakeholders.

• Understand their situation, their opportunities, their constraints.

• Converse, don’t interrogate. • Identify the cross-cutting themes, the

common agendas• Respond with demand orientated

services, collaborative projects.

7. Find the cluster champions that others trust Energise others

• Find and empower your cluster’s talent.

• Ensure you are not the ‘Project Manager’ for everything.

• Avoid capture by an elite few; open the dialogue; welcome a diversity of views.

• Keep attracting new people into the process; deepen the pool from which new leaders can emerge.

8. The connections

It’s the links that are important

A2AB2BC2C

8. Building the social links Making the connections

• Cluster development centers on active relationships.

• Start with what requires low trust.• Build your softpower … results

come through persuasion, not coercion.

• Build wide external networks to (1) scan the cluster’s horizon and (2) support new connections.

8. Facilitate B2B collaborationCluster facilitator’s dating serviceRemoving the isolation of firms

Green Light

Red Light

Orange Light

A strong possibility…a non-critical area

Not feasible…a core competency

A later option…as trust develops

8. Build the local linksC2C: Gävle, Sweden’s cluster suitcase

The Regional Innovation System

9. Act as a disrupting Change Agent

• Be prepared for stakeholders that are infuriated with your activities. Keep your flak jacket handy!

• Ride with the highs. Celebrate the successes, the good times.

• Prepare for the lows. Setbacks are integral to working on the edge … and a source of learning.

9. As a Change Agent,there is no time when you can take a rest.

10. Act as a venture capitalist Build a portfolio of activities

• Generate multiple options at the edges. • Test new agendas that have passion;• Don’t kill them through debate.

• Address opportunities, not problems.• Be comfortable with knowing without

reasoning, your intuitive understanding.

• If there are no failures you are taking it too easy. Learn by doing.

Cluster ManagersThe gender issue

‘Boys compete;Girls cooperate’

‘Boys like things; Girls like people’

‘Women multi-track’

Ten Steps to Cluster Heaven