Training Week 2 of the Competitiveness Programme in Belarus Concludes on a High Note

Training Week 2

Plenary session with Mr. Reza ZADEH, Director of the Foundation

First week of February 2020, the city of Minsk hosted the second chapter of the training programme “Belarus: Capacity Building on Cluster Competitiveness Reinforcement Initiatives“.

The training managed by the Foundation falls within a technical assistance program, set-up by the World Bank and financed by the EU, which supports Belarus Government’s efforts to foster entrepreneurship and improve the business environment. The Ministry of Economy (MoE) of Belarus – the local counterpart for this project – showed interest in the development of private sector activities in several economic sectors, including:

·           Medicine, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology

·           Instrument-Making and Robot Technology

·           Agrarian and Green Economy

·           Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The Foundation’s Belarusian custom-tailored program combines theory and practice, allowing the participants to apply their learnings using real-life situations. It consists of 10 learning modules organized in 6 weeklong in-class joint training sessions where the Foundation’s professors use the case study method.

Now that Week 1 and Week 2 were successfully delivered, expectations are high for the weeks to come to bring further insights and broader skill-sets to the participants.

In-class session with Mr. Blair Lapres of the World Bank and Mr. Dmitry Krupskiy of the Ministry of Economy of Belarus.

Group picture concluding Training Week 2.

The Foundation Welcomes a Korean Delegation

On Monday 3 February 2020, the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence hosted a delegation of 20 decision-makers from prominent public institutions and private business organizations who made the journey from South Korea.

Among the distinguished cohort the Korean Government was well represented by the Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups  and by major Government Agencies such as KIAT  - the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology - a public institute operating under the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Also present were delegates from the 11 main technoparks of Korea:

• Chungbuk Technopark

• Chungnam Technopark

• Daegu Technopark

• Daejeon Technopark

• Gangwon Technopark

• Gwangju Technopark

• Gyeongbuk Technopark

• Gyeonggi Technopark

• Jeju Technopark

• Jeonnam Technopark

• Ulsan Technopark

The cohort received a warm welcome buy Mr. Nacho Dualde, Director of ESCI Business School and by Reza Zadeh, Executive Director of the Foundation. Messrs. Dualde and Zadeh presented the Foundation’s recent activities and past achievements. The discussion gave way to a nourished exchange dealing with areas of mutual interest.

The Foundation is looking forward to its continued relationship with policy-makers and cluster community in Korea.

The visit was moderated by Global & Local Brainpark Inc. a Seoul-based consulting firm specialized in regional policies advisory services.

The Foundation featured in Botswana's State of the Nation Address 2019

Gaborone, November 18, 2019.

His Excellency Dr. Mokgweetsi E. K. Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana, delivered the annual State of the Nation Address to the country’s 12th parliament. In this highly anticipated speech 26 major areas were identified as the basis for future developments and national growth as follows :

GLOBAL ECONOMIC OVERVIEW - THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY - BUSINESS FACILITATION - ECONOMIC - DIVERSIFICATION DRIVE - TRADE FACILITATION - INVESTMENT PROMOTION - EDUCATION - HEALTH - SOCIAL PROTECTION - GENDER ISSUES - YOUTH EMPOWERMENT - LOCAL GOVERNANCE - AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD SECURITY - TOURISM - PUBLIC BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE - INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY - HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT - SPORT AND CULTURE DEVELOPMENT - TRANSPORT SECTOR - LAND - WATER - ENERGY - MINING - GOVERNANCE - NATIONAL SECURITY - FOREIGN POLICY

Tackling the “Investment Promotion” policy, the President detailed that said chapter would be supported by two strong pillars, Special Economic Zones on the one hand, and Cluster Development on the other hand. In this regard the Foundation was honoured to be introduced as the trusted partner and main architect for the ambitious capacity building effort in cluster-based competitiveness that has been undertaken for more than one year now in Botswana.

To quote His Excellency's words :

“In order to develop the national expertise in Cluster-based competitiveness in Botswana, a Training of Trainers Course is ongoing at the Botswana Public Service College, in partnership with the European Foundation for Cluster Excellence. After completing the course, the Trainers will not only be qualified to train in Botswana but in the region as well.”