French Competiveness Clusters: A Multipurpose Policy Instrument - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 181

During the first phase, from 2004 to 2008, 71 poles were granted the status of
competitiveness clusters (66 clusters in 2005, out of 105 applicants, and 6 clusters
in 2007, out of 18 applicants). In order to be granted the competitiveness cluster
label, a cluster must have: (i) a development strategy that remains consistent with
the economic development plan in the clusters local area; (ii) a sufficient inter-
national visibility, in terms of industry and/or technology; (iii) a partnership
between players, a governance modality, and operational structure ensure to
generate synergies in research and development, and (iv) a capacity to create of
new wealth with high added value. The evaluation of the first phase was conducted
in 2008 by CM International and The Boston Consulting Group ( 2008 ) in France
(BCG). During the first phase the competitiveness activities are usually dominated
by the structuring of the cluster, improving their international visibility and cre-
ating R&D collaborative projects (projects fabrication). The evaluation report
confirmed that the competitiveness cluster policy has created and accelerated a
dynamic to cooperate around an innovation project in all sectors of industrial
activities. Regarding the evaluation of the individual performance of each cluster:
39 poles have reached their objectives, 19 poles have only partially reached their
objectives and must review their strategy, governance, and management team, and
13 poles need to review their strategy and revise it to be in line with the objective
of the cluster policy. Nevertheless, all the poles are renewed; the last 13 poles are
provided 1 year by the government to show they have reached the requirements of
the policy.
The competitiveness clusters policy 2.0 is the second phase of the competi-
tiveness cluster policy that covers the period 2009-2011. During the second phase,
the CIACT granted six new members to the competitiveness clusters. At the same
period, the Committee did not extend the competitiveness cluster status of the six
clusters which are among the 13 clusters that have had difficulty during the
evaluation in 2008. After the first evaluation, the government decided to give a
new dimension to the policy by focusing on three priorities: (i) to strengthen the
cluster's strategic piloting and management; (ii) to provide clusters with new
financing tools (structuring projects); and (iii) to develop support for new
dimensions of the innovation ecosystem such as human resources competences,
intellectual property rights (IPR), etc. Various measures were applied to support
the competitiveness clusters such as supporting the strategic governance of clus-
ters, financing structuring projects, such as innovation platforms; developing other
aspects of the cluster ecosystems, such as competence management, international
development, IPR management, and an incentive to get more of private funding,
specifically to support the growth of SMEs. The evaluation of the second phase
was conducted at the first trimester in 2012 by a consortium Bearing Point-Erdyn-
Technopolis. The report of the second evaluation was released on 19 June 2012.
The competiveness clusters are classified into three main categories: global
clusters (7), global vocation clusters (11), and national clusters (53). The global
clusters are Aerospace Valley (Midi-Pyrénées), Lyonbiopole (Rhône-Alpes),
Medicen Paris Region (Paris), Minalogic (Rhône-Alpes), Secured Communication
Solutions

(Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur), System@tic (Paris) and Finance