An extraordinary meeting of the Confindustria Lombardia Technical Cluster Committee was held on Thursday, 9 July.
The meeting featured the participation of Denis Leclerc, President of the International Cleantech Network (ICN) – a network of 11 clusters from the most advanced regions in the cleantech sector – and President of Ecotech Québec, a Canadian cluster recognised as one of the province's key development players.

The meeting served as a practical training workshop attended by officials from the Confindustria Lombardia system, as well as the cluster managers of the #9CTL, Finlombarda, and LIUC University.

Based on the premise that the clusters active in the province of Quebec and the Lombardy region operate within the same production sectors, the workshop provided an excellent opportunity for exchange, offering insights into solutions that could be replicated locally to address challenges and objectives shared by clusters worldwide. Leclerc provided a global overview of the challenges, objectives, and organisational structure of the clusters, focusing on the difficulties encountered during the growth phase of the structure within the territory, while ensuring no interference with the mission of existing business associations. The ICN President further emphasised that the goal of the Ecotech Québec cluster has, since its inception, been to create a better environment for innovation. This was achieved by focusing on innovative companies and adopting an approach aimed at promoting the entire production system, rather than solely focusing on its members.

Finally, a consensus emerged among all attendees regarding the necessity of adopting a global approach to provide a genuine competitive advantage to the various production systems that the clusters represent and promote.