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Historical background

1999/2000 : Early years

2001/2006 : The experimental stage

2006/2007 : From experiment to durability

1999/2000: Early years

Michael Porter

In 1990, in his book « The competitive advantage of nations », the American economist Michael Porter highlighted the presence, in different areas of the world, of effective centres of activities at the international scale (clusters), centres relying on four strategic determining criteria strengthening one with each other. What Porter calls the « diamond » is composed of the production factors, the demand-related conditions, the competition and strategies of the companies of the sector, and, also, the related effective sectors of activity.

In the course of the decade, Michael Porter's publications have ensured a broad dissemination of the cluster concept both in academic and political quarters. The PORTER's theories have quickly resulted, on an international scale, in private and public initiatives to support regional or national clusters (the Basque Country, Scotland, Flanders, etc.).

What about Wallonia?

At the Walloon level, the structure of the productive fabric (burden of the heavy industries, weak enterpreneurship) has not promoted the natural appearance of networks of companies.

From 1999, the first discussions on the cluster concept were conducted within the Administration (DGEE/DPE) in the course of the drawing up of the regional development strategies for the 2000-2006 period, part-financed by the Structural Funds.

In January 2000, the Walloon Government set the support to the appearance of networks of companies among the priority measures of its Contract for the Future for the Walloon Region, proving its willingness to promote co-operation and partnerships between Walloon enterprises, both SMEs and large enterprises.

At the same time, awareness and support actions to clustering were included in the 2000-2006 programmes of the phasing out of Objective 1 (Hainaut), Objective 2 urban (Liège) and Objective 2 rural (Namur and Luxembourg).

A survey as an answer to "Why?" and "How?"

In July 2000, following the first feasibility study conducted by the Administration, the MERIT (University of Maastricht) and Ernst & Young France issued a report (.pdf - 550Kb) financed by the Minister of the Economy and the Economy Policy Division (DGEE/DPE).

This report allowed to confirm the interest of the cluster concept for a large panel of Walloon companies (6 sectors representative of the regional economy), to fit the concept to the Walloon situation and, in fine, to find out how the Region could support these networks of enterprises.

2001/2006: The experimental stage

Pilot Projects

As a direct result of the report of MERIT/Ernst & Young , it has been decided to launch an experimental stage for supporting the creation of networks of enterprises.

In total, 12 clusters have been supported by the Region since 2001, their launching being performed in three stages:

- in 2001 and 2002, the following clusters: aeronautics, automotive industry, wood and biotechnologies in the agri-food industry;

- in 2003, the space, clinical research and ceramic products clusters;

- in 2004, the Solid wastes, Transport & Logistics*, Nutrition*, ICT* and Eco-building clusters*.

^{*. These 4 clusters result from awareness actions to the network approach conducted in the phasing out Objective 1 (Hainaut) and Objective 2 (provinces of Liège, Namur and Luxembourg) areas in the course of the 2000-2003 period, with, as a consequence, the accompaniment of clusters-related projects.}

Intermediate assessment

In 2004, on behalf of the "Conseil Economique et Social" of the Walloon Region (CESRW), the MERIT agency conducted an independent assessment of the experimental programme.

Among the four first analysed pilot clusters, two were very positive ones (Aeronautics and Automotive) while the other two experiments (Wood and Biotechnologies in the agro-food industry) did not prove positive ones: too limited critical mass, low impacts, no long-term prospect, etc. As a logical result, since the end of 2004, the Walloon Region has decided to remove its support to these two pilot projects.

Fundamentally, the MERIT's report (.pdf - 634Kb) had a positive assessment on this experimental stage of clustering conducted since 2001 and recommended its reconduction provided improvements were made:

- legal bases needed for the good and sustainable operation of the programme;

- upkeep of the sliding-scaled public financing;

- selection of the leading initiatives on the basis of an objective and open process;

- independent assessment of each cluster after 2 or 3 years of operation.

2006/2007: from experiment to durability

The lessons deriving from the experimental stage, added to the independent assessment conducted by the experts of MERIT, have led the Walloon Region to sustain its clustering support policy, while providing the necessary improvements. This willingness can be found in the "Contrat d'avenir pour les Wallonnes et les Wallons" (February 2005) and the Cross Strategic Plan "Création d'activités et d'emploi" (August 2005).

This is the very meaning of the Decree, worked out by the DGEE/DPE and the Minister in charge of the Economy, aiming at providing this policy with a legal basis different from the mere budget decree used during the experimental stage.

It has been voted by the Walloon Parliament on 18 January 2007 (Decree related to the support and the development of the networks of enterprises or clusters) (.pdf - 996Kb) and completed by an "Order" (.pdf - 738Kb) approved by the Walloon Government on 16 Mai 2007.

The legal basis provides for:

- an open selection procedure aiming at selecting the leading initiatives;

- a sliding-scaled public financing (through 3-year periods: 100%, 80% and 50%);

- triennial assessments of each cluster and the policy itself;

- a specific support to international and inter-clusters co-operation.

Presently, 14 clusters are acknowledged pursuant to the Decree of 18 January 2007 :

• amoung the previous pilot experiments : Aeronautics, Clinical research, Space, Solid waste, Transport & Logistics, Nutrition, ICT and Eco-building (Automotive : pending);
• the clusters TWIST (Numerical Image, Sound and Text), MITECH (Micro-Technologies), TWEED (Environment - Sustainable development), Photonics and CAP 2020 (Building Energy Efficiency) are new Walloon clusters.