6CLAC Ouro Preto 2011: Building Competitiveness through Learning Clusters in Latin America

www.clusterlatinoamerica2011.com

350 cluster practitioners from Latin America and other regions in the world met in Ouro Preto, Brazil, on the ocassion of the 6th Latin American cluster Conference with the aim of discussing about the reality and the diversity of Brazilian and Latin American clusters, the main challenges confronting them, and the proposed solutions in search of more effective and sustainable results.

CONFERENCE MATERIALS

Conference program and presentations

Participants list

In the privileged location of the historic town of Ouro Preto, the event created a dynamic environment for discussing the competitiveness of Latin American clusters and successful models that can be adopted by participating countries respecting their own regional characteristics and structure. The event represented a unique opportunity to exchange ideas, knowledge and best practices among participants and international experts, such as, Alberto Pezzi, Christian Ketels, Elisabeth Waelbroeck-Rocha, Carlos Arruda and Madeline Smith. Breakout sessions covered the topics of benchmarking, internationalization, innovation, cluster management and sustainability among others. Of particular interest were the pannels about cluster financing, cluster policy and the cases of two big Brazilian companies, PETROBRAS and EMBRAER. Participants visited fashion industry, biotechnology, IT and construction clusters in Belo Horizonte. The conference was an exceptional chance to get to know first-hand, the work developed by Brazil, one of the leading countries in cluster development.

Alonso Ramos recapitulated some of the conclusions from the conference that you can read in Spanish in his blog clusterizando.com.

Brazil is experiencing a period of growth and consolidation, which is the result of successful economic policies. In particular, the state of Minas Gerais stands out for its dynamism and its effective application of the cluster concept. In this effort, the role played by SEBRAE both local and national level has been key.
Brazil is an example of the window of opportunities that is opened for all Latin America in terms of economic and social development. The economic stability of recent years and the democracy have been reinforced by a new approach to innovation and competitiveness by business and government.

Topics for an ongoing dialogue
These are some points and concepts analyzed and discussed during the conference, points that will keep alive the dialogue between Latin American clusters and their peers in other regions.

1 - The cluster concept
• Are clusters a fad or fashion?
• Is it a tool of intervention or an economic reality to boost?

2 - Scope of the methodology
• Should we try to induce clusters or should we work only with those that are naturally developed?
• Should we select clusters or let the market do so?
• At the regional level, can we speak about regional vocations or only potentialities?
• Is it better having few or many clusters? Which criteria should be followed for establishing the geographical scope and range of economic activities?
• Some activities are not necessarily clustered because of their transversal focus (eg ICT, Metal Mechanic)
• There is a convergence and standardization of methods of intervention. Is it enough the adaptation done to the local reality?
• Definition of a regional brand and a shared vision.
• In Latin America there is still much work to do for internationalization of clusters and the projection of world-class clusters.

3 - Continuity and upgrade
• Public policy continuity and sustainability of efforts (particularly financially) is a challenge.
• A second generation of public policies for the development of clusters is needed.
• Should clusters develop as a formal independent organization or as an informal entity within existing organizations?
• The role of different actors and in particular the cluster manager should be defined and reviewed.
• Public administrations come and go but the companies remain. It necessary to work on how to involve businesspersons.

4 - Social and environmental issues
• Do not forget to align productivity goals with social objectives. More work is needed on reducing disparities
• Little is said about the incorporation of the informal sector.
• How to move from the concept of corporate social responsibility to the shared value concept.

5 - Results and impact
• Given the difficulty of measuring the results of cluster efforts, it is common to work with process indicators (amount of support, number of clusters, programs, etc.) to justify the efforts.
• The question is whether any of these actions would take place without a cluster approach.
• The challenge is to demonstrate that, by doing so through a cluster approach, there is an incremental effect in terms of impact indicators, such as effective improvements to business and the community. It is necessary to clearly demonstrate that the clusters made the difference.

Marcos Fava Neves summarized in a very insightfull way the strategic agenda for Latin American clusters in a scheme of facts, impacts and acts. The document is also available in Portuguese on clusterizando.com.