One month after TCI: Sleepless nights and bouncing ideas!

“I have to sleep over it”, is a phrase we often use after getting overwhelmened by many new impressions, thoughts, or ideas. 4 weeks after the TCI Conference I slept more than once over it and still like to remember myself back. Some of the articles reflect my impressions from the Conference. If I would have to select one final overall statement then it would be the following:

“Critical success factors of a Conference with more than 350 experts on innovation are not mainly related to the topics that are selected but to the atmosphere and facilitation corridor that is provided for a fruitful and outcome oriented discussion between experienced participants!”

The real new insights during conferences are less so coming out from presentations themselves but from some ideas they are able to set free within the listeners mind. The exchange on these ideas and impressions can be promoted through a professional facilitation of communication. In that way this conference was much more interactive and fruitful than earlier ones I participated in. I discovered new forms of facilitation, interaction and exchange between practitioniers.

If I would have to select one of my main learnings during the conference then it would be the following:

“We will have to reflect more about how we can facilitate  communication and competition between business and institutional networks with the end to promote competitiveness. Cooperation in cluster promotion is just a means to  this end!”

The whole cluster and innovation system discussion is finally about cooperation and competition. On the one hand several TCI inputs and discussions provided interesting contributions on how to improve cooperation, how to get a deeper understanding about different mindsets, and about the importance to consider the change of mental models in our daily work. There is a need to understand better how we approach different human beings with different interests and backgrunds. What are more frutful ways to encourage a implementation-driven cooperation between businesses and relevant support institutions ?, is one of the key questions we will have to find more answers on.

On the other hand a deeper understanding of how to promote implementation- and demand-driven cooperation is just beginning. Cluster and innovation promotion it is not reached only through network facilitation, or only through understanding the critical human and institutional factors of cooperation. It is also about understanding and promoting competition!

The promotion of clusters and innovation systems have the objective to increase the competitiveness of a certain territory. And competitiveness is very much about understanding market failures, government failures as well as network failures that hinder competitiveness. It also involves a deeper understanding of the market forces, about the demand conditions and how existing and future businesses are challenged to react on these changing market circumstances in a more effective and successful way. Actually this topic of competitiveness and its element of competition  was rarely tackled during the TCI Conference. Nonetheless it is an essential one in times of globalisation.

A professional management of  such processes through practitioners, policy makers, consultants and businesses requires a competency in cluster facilitation that goes beyond network management but that is able to promote a reflection in businesses and support institutions of how to improve competitiveness along very concrete activities and learning loops.

Not only me but many practitioners and policy makers are coming every year to the TCI Conference to learn something new. Accordingly the title in Finland was “Learning Clusters”. Maybe one of the next TCI titles could be “lessons learnt for the future”, or “demand-driven clusters and networks: success and failure criteria”, or “Cluster facilitation vs cluster management: what do we need to change?” This would then encourage a reflection about market-, government and network failures we have experienced during the last decade as well as about our own role in cluster and business promotion. It would also force us to have a deeper look again into real practical examples that are closer to business reality.

I  like to remember myself back to the Conference in Finland because I did meet several very motivated and committed persons  with whom I would like to stay in contact. During the daily routine of our work the development of new ideas and the motvation to try things differently often gets insufficient attention. The TCI Conference is a place where this room is provided. Although  I had several nights to reflect about my impressions, there are still several ideas that are bouncing around in my head. And that´s gerat!

To the organizers and the TCI team: Thanks for the left bouncing ideas! It was a pleasure being there!

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