PROJECT I3CT – Crossborder Clustering

I3CT Project – Crossborder Clustering

Project I3CT Crossborder Clustering was approved within the second call for proposals of the Hungary – Croatia IPA Cross Border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013.

The lead beneficiary was Regional development Agency Međimurje REDEA d.o.o.

Project partners were IT Cluster of Međimurje, Međimurje Polytechnic of Čakovec, PORA Development Agency of Podravina and Prigorje, University of Pannonia – Nagykanizsa Campus and Pannon Novum from Hungary.

The project was aimed at the economy and human resources development through cooperation of support institutions dealing with the development of entrepreneurship, universities and private companies working in the field of research and innovations. The aforementioned cooperation led to the increase of joint research, development and innovation capacities of the region near the border.

The main objective of the project was to foster cooperation and synergy between key organizations in the field of economy development based on knowledge: universities, development institutions, centers for technology and innovations, clusters and small and medium IT companies on both sides of the border.

The project itself involved the following activities:

• identification of innovation capacities of small and medium enterprises and universities in the regions near the border;
• development of data base of experts in management of innovation and technology developed by the universities in the region as prerequisite for support in further technology commercialization
• B2B events joined by IT companies with the main objective to share examples of good practice in the field of cluster management and to foster development of new IT clusters;
• workshops and seminars on innovation and ICT management;
• development of an e-learning course on how to use ICT in three languages (Croatian, Hungarian and English).

Total project budget was 282.687,54 EUR while PORA budget was 16.090,00 EUR. The project was implemented in Međimurje County and Koprivnica Križevci County in Croatia and Zala County in Hungary. The project lasted for 16 months and the implementation started in September 2011.