CENTROPE´s landscape of clusters is broad and manifold. We find more than 22 cluster initiatives in the Central European Region. The spectrum ranges from the booming automotive industry to sustainable housing construction or health tourism.


South Moravia

Czech Furniture Cluster: furniture manufacturing has a long tradition in the region around Brno. The focus of this cluster is on increasing the quota of exports, above all to Canada, Russia, Ukraine and the German-speaking countries, and on the support of product development, innovation and research on the part of partner enterprises. The cluster was established in 2006 and currently has 35 partners.

The CEITEC Bioinformatics Cluster with its currently 15 members links IT enterprises, medical-technical laboratories and pharmacological companies to Brno’s Masaryk University and University of Technology. The focus is on research and development projects.

The Brno Water Treatment Alliance (Czech only) is a smaller, highly specialised network composed of 16 partners active in the fields of mechanical engineering, electronics and biotechnology. The strategic objectives of this cluster include the positioning of Czech water purification and treatment systems in the international market and joint research projects of cluster partners.

West Hungary

PANAC Automotive Cluster: this oldest cluster in CENTROPE was set up in 2000 by the Hungarian subsidiaries of Audi, Suzuki and Opel in co-operation with the established Hungarian company Rába and Győr’s Széchényi University. The number of small and medium-sized enterprises among the currently 83 cluster partners is increasing. Győr is the centre of Hungary’s automotive industry; as one of seven innovation and development poles (Hungarian only) of the Hungarian economic development strategy, its special focus is on vehicle manufacturing.

The Pannon Mechatronics Cluster is a successor to the electronics cluster and was established in 2005 by the Hungarian subsidiaries of large-scale international corporations such as flextronic or EPCOS. Today, the cluster has 44 partners from the areas of mechanical and plant engineering, component production, electronics and IT. The most important research partner is Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

The PANFA Timber and Furniture Cluster (Hungarian only), which was set up in 2001, comprises 127 partners along the entire value-creation chain for timber, ranging from forestry to furniture production/timber engineering. Renewable energies/biomass is another field of its activities. With Sopron University and its Faculties of Forest Engineering and Timber Industry, the most important and best-established training facility for this industry, too, has joined this cluster.

The Pannon Thermal Cluster is a network of both famous and less well-known thermal and curative spas in Hungary (Bük, Sárvár, Héviz, etc.). The main task of this cluster lies in joint PR and marketing activities for the international positioning of Hungary as a spa destination (set up in 2001, 38 partners).

The Pannon Cluster for Renewable Energy (Hungarian only) is a newer cluster in West Hungary. At the moment, it has 11 partners from the fields of planning, energy production, counselling and supply.

Arts and crafts, regional products and village tourism are the focal areas of the Pannon Local Products Cluster (Hungarian only). The key strategic objective is to position local and regional foodstuffs, arts and crafts in the national and international market, e.g. by means of a joint e-shop.

Large-scale companies as well as micro enterprises in the textile and garment industries are among the 30 partners of the Pannon Textile Cluster (Hungarian only). The cluster management offers support e.g. through market research and trend watching.

The Pannon Logistics Cluster (Hungarian only) networks such key stakeholders as the Danube port Győr-Gönyű and the airport Győr-Pér as well as another 26 enterprises from the logistics business.

Western Slovakia

As the first such initiative in Slovakia, an Automotive Cluster Western Slovakia is currently being developed in and around Trnava to bring regional automotive suppliers closer to large-scale corporations and to improve their competitive clout in Slovakia and abroad. Cluster management services are scheduled for takeoff in 2008.

Vienna Region

The Automotive Cluster Vienna Region (ACVR) is a joint initiative of the Federal Provinces of Vienna and Lower Austria. Cross-sector technologies are a main asset of the Vienna Region: in addition to traditional automotive suppliers, electronics and telematics enterprises as well as a variety of service companies, research, development and training facilities are ACVR partners.

Vienna

Vienna IT Enterprises (VITE) is a network of IT enterprises, research, development and training facilities in Vienna. Co-operation with neighbouring regions is intensified in the context of the IT CENTROPE network.

The focus of Life Science Austria Vienna Region (LISA VR) is on enterprises and start-ups in the fields of biotechnology and innovative medical technology. This central life science consultancy and co-ordination point in the Vienna Region was set up in 2002 to offer consultancy services relating to company start-ups, business plan development and financing/funding.

The creative industries network departure supports entrepreneurs and company founders active in the creative industries, e.g. in fashion, music, the audiovisual sector, multimedia, design, publishing, the art market and architecture. In order to specifically use and further develop the potential of Vienna’s creative industries, departure wirtschaft, kunst und kultur gmbh was set up in 2003 as a central point of contact and funding organisation.

Lower Austria

With 190 partners, the Green Building Cluster is the biggest cluster in CENTROPE. Its activities are geared towards the upgrading of older houses according to low-energy standards, the construction of multi-storey buildings in line with passive-energy standards, healthy interior environments in housing as well as towards the multi-industry focus “continuous improvement process” (CIP). Activities are being gradually expanded to include renewable energy sources and ecological technologies.

The Plastics Cluster Lower Austria is part of a plastics cluster extending across the Federal Provinces of Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Salzburg. Key services such as information and PR are handled by the central cluster office in Linz, while regional consultancy of member enterprises and research facilities as well as the development of activities with a specifically Lower Austrian slant (e.g. bioplastics) are managed by the Lower Austrian cluster management.

The target group of the Wellbeing Cluster Lower Austria includes enterprises, institutions and actors from the fields of health tourism, preventive medicine, natural products, ancillary health services, research and training as well as regional suppliers.

The foodstuff sector is one of the most important industries of Lower Austria. The Foodstuff Initiative Lower Austria supports enterprises from this sector along the entire value-creation chain – agricultural enterprises, food-processing industries as well as food wholesalers and retailers – and covers meat, grain, fruit and vegetables.

Burgenland

The focus of the 20 partner companies of the Plastics Cluster Burgenland , some of which operate subsidiaries in the neighbouring countries (but also in Asia), is on joint staff qualification measures and internationalisation activities. The cluster is managed by the Economic Chamber of Burgenland.

With currently 22 partners, the ICT Cluster Burgenland was set up around the research and know-how centre of the ICS curriculum organised by the University of Applied Sciences Eisenstadt on the one hand and locally established IT companies on the other hand. The cluster was initiated by FMB Facility Management Burgenland GmbH, a subsidiary of WIBAG and the operator of 6 technology centres in Burgenland.


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