On March 25, 2026, TCI Network members gathered for the General Assembly to reflect on our progress, set priorities for the future, and strengthen our network. The session included presenting our new strategy along with a renovated mission and vision, announcing a partial renewal of the Board of Directors, the approval of the agenda by attending members, and a review of 2025 activities, which involved active participation from across the network. 

A refreshed Strategy

During the Assembly, we presented a refreshed strategic framework that will guide our work in the coming years. This strategy reflects our ambition to increase our impact and relevance in a rapidly evolving global context.

It is structured around three core pillars: sharing knowledge, facilitating connections and building capabilities. These pillars will underpin our activities and initiatives, supporting our members while fostering collaboration, learning, and innovation across the global cluster community.

• Sharing Knowledge: We capture, curate and share cluster and ecosystem knowledge to foster collaborations that make a difference.
• Facilitating Connections: We strengthen the skills, capacity and confidence of firms, practitioners, policymakers and researchers to enable more effective and innovative solutions.
• Building Capabilities: We connect people, organisations and regions worldwide with expertise, practical knowledge and capability to build trusting relationships and impactful outcomes.

Together, these developments mark a significant step forward for the TCI Network, reinforcing our role as a global platform for knowledge exchange, capacity building, and meaningful connections.

We would like to thank all members who joined the 2026 General Assembly. We look forward to continuing to advance thriving and sustainable clusters and ecosystems. 

2025: A year in activities

In 2025, TCI Network members engaged in a wide range of activities across our global community. The year’s highlights included the 28th TCI Global Conference on the island of Ireland, our largest international gathering, which welcomed over 220 participants from 22 countries and showcased clusters as drivers of sustainable growth and cross-regional collaboration. We hosted the TCI Policy Workshop in Budapest, co-creating pathways for future-proof cluster policies, and ran impactful regional initiatives, including the Asia-Pacific Summer Conference in Ulaanbaatar, and benchmarking support for productive development policy in Chihuahua, Latin America, which continues today. Our webinars explored cluster resilience and transformative policy design. TCI was also active in external representation, ensuring our members’ voices influenced global policy discussions and strengthening the Network’s international visibility.

Partial renewal of the Board of Directors

During this year's General Assembly, we also had a partial renewal of our Board of Directors, with four new directors joining the rest of the Board. Their appointment brings fresh perspectives and complementary expertise to the Network, further strengthening our leadership and capacity to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities.

• Brian Holst (United States): Brian Holst is Executive Director of the Juneau Economic Development Council, leading cluster-based regional development and entrepreneurship initiatives in Alaska since 2008. Prior to that, he spent 20+ years managing complex economic and community development programs in Latin America and Eastern Europe. A seasoned board leader and former elected local official, he brings strong skills in public engagement and consensus building, with a focus on entrepreneurship, clusters, and innovation ecosystems. 
• Bridget Bohan (Canada): Bridget Bohan is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience building and scaling businesses, including founding two companies and supporting the launch of a machine learning start-up in the UK. She built and leads NGen’s Cluster Accelerator Network (NGenCAN), a pan-Canadian initiative connecting 45 industry clusters representing more than 10,000 SMEs. Bridget brings strong strategic insight, creativity, and partnership-building expertise, advancing collaboration, innovation, and sustainable growth within Canada’s advanced manufacturing ecosystem and the global cluster community.
• Linda Jamison (United Kingdom): Linda Jamison is the Head of Collaboration & Clusters at Invest Northern Ireland, where she leads one of the region’s most significant economic development programmes, the £11 million, 10‑year Cluster Acceleration Programme (CAP). Her work is spearheading Northern Ireland’s transition from traditional network-based initiatives toward modern, globally competitive, ecosystem‑driven superclusters across advanced manufacturing and engineering, photonics, digital industries, maritime and offshore, agri‑tech, life and health sciences, and low‑carbon technologies. She provides strategic direction to ensure clusters become engines of competitiveness, innovation adoption, talent development and inclusive regional growth.
• Ulises Fernández (Mexico): With over 15 years of experience in economic development, Ulises Fernández leads the Secretariat of Innovation and Economic Development of the State of Chihuahua. He specializes in cluster development, smart specialization strategies, and fostering innovation ecosystems. His strong track record includes enhancing business and SME competitiveness by facilitating public-private dialogue to design and implement high-impact projects. He has collaborated across key industries such as Agribusiness, Logistics, IT, Low-Carbon Economy, and Tourism, across Latin America, including Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico.

These new members join Mirjana Prica, David Fernández, Annie Renders, Luis Oliver Torres, Guillermo Acosta, Yeinni Patiño, Septi Bukula, Barbara Gibbon, Lucia Seel and Ola Svedin, who continue their mandate on the Board.

About  TCI Network

Founded in 1998, TCI Network is a non-profit organisation that brings together professionals and organisations working in clusters and innovation ecosystems worldwide. With over 500 active members across 111 countries, the TCI Network facilitates global connections, inspires cluster-based initiatives, and enhances policy learning. For more information, visit www.tci-network.org.

Media Contact:

Bárbara Gimeno

Communications, TCI Network
Email: communications@tci-network.org