On Tuesday, 2nd of June, several members of the EACN partnership had the opportunity to take part in the meeting “Analysis of Disruptions in the Mobility – Automotive Ecosystem”, organized by the European Clusters Alliance (ECA) with the support of the European Commission. This event was one of the several daily webinars the ECA is hosting focused on specific industrial activities, with the aim of creating thematic expert groups and looking for leaders who can act as representatives of these sectors.

The event started with a presentation by Isabelle Dussutour, Director of Innovation and International Relations at the French cluster iD4CAR, who introduced the conceptual framework of the mobility industrial ecosystem. She shared with the audience her opinion about the major disruptions caused by the current crisis and the character of those, the affected industrial sectors, new opportunities emerged in this context as well as what could be done to solve this situation.

Later on, Antonio Novo, President of the European Cluster Alliance, moderated an opened discussion with the more than 35 attendants coming from different mobility/automotive clusters all around Europe. The participants could comment on the Isabel’s presentation as well as give their point of view about the main disruptions and needs our industrial ecosystem is having. Among the possible solutions, the important issue of how the clusters can help the companies in this situation was addressed too.

Clotilde Nadé, from Pôle Véhicule du Futur (leader of the EACN initiative), had the opportunity to introduce our project as well as the EACN partnership, which gathers near 20 cluster organizations until the moment. In the framework of this network, she explained that 3 working groups are currently active to share good practices and collaborate to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. One of them is focused on defining how could be the panorama of the automotive sector in the future, trying to turn this crisis into an opportunity. The European Cluster Alliance showed great interest in knowing the results of this collaborative work as soon as they are available.

The European Clusters Alliance is a participatory initiative that brings together 12 national associations of clusters with the aim of having a common voice, facilitating connections, and identifying opportunities to face the challenges ahead. Altogether, this alliance represents more than 700 cluster organizations and around 112,000 innovative companies, who collaborate with thousands of universities, research centres and public institutions to boost their competitiveness.