A regional conference on “Networking companies of Republika Srpska with European partners” was held in Banja Luka on Thursday. The Conference, which focused on “the added value of clusters in the Adriatic-Danube region”, was organized as part of the Adriatic-Danubian Clustering (ADC) project financed by the EU from IPA funds within the South East Europe (SEE) programme. The ADC project, worth 60,000 Euros, is part of the transnational cooperation programme under which 2.5 million Euros is allocated for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2007-2011.
The conference offered participants an opportunity to exchange experiences and best practice on company clusters networking. It also examined the developing trend in cluster development in Republika Srpska, with particular focus on problems detected so far, and it looked at various kinds of possible international cluster cooperation.
Giulio Zanni, Head of EUD Office in Banja Luka said that the project was initiated in 2009.
“The focus of the SEE programme is on territorial development,” he said. “Participants are EU member states, candidate and potential candidate countries. The SEE programme focuses on innovation and environmental protection and covers an area with more than 200 million inhabitants.“
Zanni said the focus in the Adriatic-Danubian clustering project is on cluster development through innovation and enterprise. “The goal of the project is to strengthen economic relations and integration through the development of cluster networks in certain sectors, which will create more favourable conditions for investment,“ he concluded.
Project Manager Silvia Baldassin of Italy’s Veneto Region told participants about the experiences of Veneto, which launched cluster development in 2003 and now has 36 clusters. She said this kind of strategy can be hugely important in the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that it must be undertaken in accordance with EU standards.
Partner in the project in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the RS Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Slobodan Marković, Director of the RS Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises, noted that the European Commission initiated a project of cross-border cluster deevelopment cooperation in South East Europe two years ago. Nine participating countries and 13 partners are involved in identifying possibilities for developing transnational clusters, specifically networking clusters of countries in the Adriatic-Danubian region with the goal of strengthening the competitiveness of enterprises in this region compared to other regions.
