In early September, seven months after the EXCITE project began, the six consortium partners met in Dresden at Silicon Saxony’s headquarters. The meeting covered the next twelve months’ work plan, ClusterXchange exchange logistics, and each cluster’s plans for attracting members.
BHV cluster was represented at the meeting by Minvydas Latauskas, cluster and projects manager. Alongside Germany’s Silicon Saxony and the Lithuanian delegation, representatives from Poland’s “Mazovia Cluster ICT”, Bulgaria’s “Cluster for Digital Transformation and Innovations”, Spain’s “GAIA” and France’s “Pôle SCS” also took part.
What the Dresden meeting aimed to achieve
The main agenda covered three questions:
- Agreeing the ClusterXchange format — how long exchanges will run (from three days to one month), which costs are covered, how application quality is assessed;
- Attracting cluster members — how each partner will inform companies in their region, invite participation, and assess motivation;
- Joint events — a tentative 2023 calendar with missions to the Basque Country, Poland and Bulgaria.
Dresden — a symbolic place for cluster work
Silicon Saxony in Dresden is one of the largest microelectronics clusters in Europe, uniting more than 350 companies and research organizations in semiconductors, embedded systems and software. This cluster’s experience in governance and international development is one reason it was chosen as EXCITE’s project coordinator.
For the Lithuanian delegation, this was a practical opportunity to see what a mature, large-scale industrial cluster looks like — and which structures BHV could adapt for its own members. We’ll share more once the first concrete exchanges are announced with an official application deadline.
— Marius Pareščius, President of the BHV cluster