Professor Antoni Subirà, a Celebration of his Life and Achievements

On Friday 8 November, in the morning, the Foundation held a tribute to the Founder of its Board of Trustees and sorely missed mentor, Antoni Subirá i Claus. Clusters experts, politicians, professors, colleagues, friends and family gathered at IESE Business School’s Aula Magna to celebrate the memory of a passionate, hyperactive and respected renaissance man.

Remembering Professor Antoni Subirà.

The session started under the patronage of Prof. Franz Heukamp, Dean of the IESE and was co-presented by Mr. Reza Zadeh, Executive Director of the Foundation and Prof. Joan Enric Ricart, Carl Schrøder Professor of Strategic Management at IESE and Trustee of the Foundation. The sessions comprised a time for collective reflections and prayers to the memory of the late Professor Antoni Subirà, Founder of the Board of the Foundation, Director of the MBA program at IESE and former Ministry of Industry and Tourism of the Catalan Government.

Professor Subira’s dedication to his trade, work ethics and legacy shall remain a source of inspiration for the broader community of cluster practitioners and economic development professionals following the path after him.

As a closing Reza Zadeh, Executive Director of the Foundation, took advantage of the solemn character of the event to proceed with the launch of the Antoni Subirà Scholarship. This scholarship shall be granted to meritorious professionals in competitiveness policies from developing economies to join the alumni community of the Foundation. A great way to apply Professor Subirà’s philosophy regarding economic development. As he loved to say “the objective of competitiveness is people’s prosperity“.

Colleagues, close friends and family united to remember and celebrate.

Competitiveness Policy Update Days 2019

On Thursday 7 and Friday 8 November, the Foundation organized a workshop addressed to the community of its alumni from all over the globe combining high-level lectures by reputable keynote speakers, interactive Q&A sessions, and, just as important, networking opportunities.

A moment to work. A moment to reflect collectively and tighten bonds between economies.

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Day 1
Much focused on strategy and management tools, the first day offered time slots for Policy Updates, Peer reviews and concluded with a Competitiveness Strategy Revisited Workshop facilitated by the Foundation's instructors and tutors.

The workday was followed by informal get-togethers later in the evening to make sure everyone would be given the possibility to get to know new colleagues and maintain strong bonds with old friends from overseas.

Day 2 – Morning
A significant part of the morning was dedicated to the topic of “Competitiveness Policy from a Different Viewpoint”. Four prominent specialists came onstage and confronted their views :

1. Emiliano Duch from the World Bank spoke on Multilateral Organisations.

2. Christian Ketels from the Boston Consulting Group Henderson Institute evoked the Trends at National level.

3. Emily Wise from Lund University gave the audience a panorama of the Cluster & Collaborative Innovation Policies in Europe.

4. Maria Luisa Blazquez from IESE Business School presented the main conclusions from the Spanish Business Competitiveness Report.

Day 2 – Afternoon
During the afternoon session the audience was given an exclusive preview of a new case study titled “Continuous Policy Development and Learning : Clusters in the Basque Country”. The case study, facilitated by James Wilson from Orkestra, the Basque Institute of Competitiveness and Madeline Smith, Head of Strategy at the Glasgow School of Art, allowed an immersion into the secrets of the Basque Country’s contemporary sharp positioning on innovation and vanguard. The intervention of Jon Azua, the mastermind behind the anchorage of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao back in 1991, closed the workshop on an very inspiring highlight. To quote Jon’s own words: “Dream, and make it possible”.

Moderator Madeline Smith with Jon Azua sharing his experience on bringing home the Guggenheim Museum.

EU - Belarus Private Sector Development Programme was launched in Minsk

This week we had a great start, delivering the first training element of Competitiveness Reinforcement Initiative in Minsk, Belarus. The 12 month training project is part of European Union - Belarus Private Sector Development Programme managed by the World Bank Group. We have joined forces with consulting firm Competitiveness to bring practical cluster development expertise to the initiative.

We are working with a fantastic group of policy makers, entrepreneurs and business support organisations. So looking forward to future training sessions.