On Thursday, September 26, the director of the Productive and Business Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Marco Llinás, participated in the launch of the “Cluster Development and Strengthening Program” in Mendoza, Argentina. This initiative, led by the Mendoza Innovation, Science and Technology Agency, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Productive Development, seeks to promote innovation and business development in the main productive sectors of the Province.
The Program has a fund of 400 million Argentine pesos destined for Non-Refundable Contributions (ANR), designed to promote collaborative projects between business clusters, promoting associativity, investment in the development of capabilities shared by groups of companies and the scientific system. , and productive innovation. The proposal is aimed at agglomerations of a minimum of four companies that share common interests and seek to work together to achieve strategic objectives.
During his speech, Llinás insisted on the structural challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of low economic growth. In this context, he emphasized the need to implement productive development policies (PDP) that promote economic diversification, structural change and sustainability, as fundamental pillars to reactivate growth and improve regional competitiveness.
Likewise, it presented a set of recommendations structured into seven axes of action, raised in the first edition of the document titled: “Overview of Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024: How to promote the great productive transformation that the region?”. This publication highlights the role of cluster initiatives as a key tool to boost productivity in the region, linking public and private actors in the creation of more sophisticated and territorial productive ecosystems. The director detailed four fundamental recommendations regarding cluster initiatives:
- Implement programs at the national and subnational level that support the emergence and strengthening of this type of initiatives.
- Take advantage of cluster initiatives as a central element in the productive development policies of countries and territories: perceive these initiatives as an institutional technology that allows the integration of various instruments and interventions regarding PDP.
- Encourage private sector leadership or co-leadership in these initiatives.
- Make visible, promote exchange and strengthen the multiple productive coordination initiatives that are being worked on in the region.
In turn, Llinás highlighted the fundamental role that ECLAC plays through the Cluster Initiatives Platform and other Territorial Productive Articulation Initiatives (IAPT) to make these projects visible and strengthen them, encouraging them to get the most out of the Platform.
Through this Program, Mendoza also aims to apply knowledge and promote international cooperation, with other ecosystems and institutions. In addition to the participation of ECLAC, the launch included the participation of ecosystem specialists from Spain and organizations such as TCI, a leading global network of people and organizations working on innovation clusters and ecosystems around the world.
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