Increasing the opportunities

With the Clust-ERs, the regional system of industrial research and innovation pursues greater integration and a better positioning in the international arena to:

• Increase the opportunities for participation in European programs and international research and innovation networks;
• Enance synergies and activate coordinated and stable networks and connections with other public-private aggregations operating in the same areas at national and European level;
• Favour and support the development and birth of initiatives in the field of higher education and human resources;
• Support and encourage new research infrastructures of general interest for the Emilia-Romagna territory.

How Clust-ERs work

Within the Clust-ERs, laboratories, companies and training bodies work together according to the open innovation model to identify opportunities for collaboration and enhancement of research results. Each Clust-ER favours the development of shared projects and promotes the participation of members in national and international calls and funding programs.

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The Value Chains

In order to focus its action on the priorities of greatest interest for companies and for the territory, each Clust-ER operates through working groups representing the most relevant Value Chains for the regional economy in terms of turnover, employees and competitive positioning in the international context.

A programmatic manifesto has been drawn up for each Value Chain that defines strategic vision and objectives to strengthen its positioning at an international level. The list of Value Chains and the related manifestos are present on the website of each Clust-ER.

Who can join

Clust-ERs are recognized associations, established pursuant to art. 14-42 of the Civil Code. The following types of subjects can be members of the Clust-ERs:

• Industrial research laboratories and innovation centres accredited by the Emilia-Romagna Region
• Enterprises and innovative startups
• Consortia and business networks
• ITS foundations and training bodies accredited by the Emilia-Romagna Region and operating in the ‘Higher Education and Higher Technical training
• Other organizations and institutions active in the field of innovation

Why join

Joining the Clust-ER means contributing to the strengthening of the regional research and innovation system, favoring a more effective interaction between laboratories and companies through:

• Development of joint projects in the field of collaborative research;
• Implementation of common actions aimed at favoring the sharing of resources and infrastructures between the research system and companies: projects for the sharing of equipment and infrastructures, development of joint labs, plants pilot and demonstrators;
• Promotion of common actions for the exploitation of research results and knowledge transfer;
• Promotion of actions for Higher Education.

How to join

To become a member of a Clust-ER, it is necessary to submit an application for membership by filling in the appropriate form that can be downloaded in the “How to join” section on the website of each Clust-ER, after having read the Association’s Statute, which can be downloaded from the same site. The application must be sent via PEC to the address specified in the form. Admission as a member is approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting, in the first useful meeting following the submission of the membership application.