By Madeline Smith, presented at the 17th TCI Global Conference, Monterrey 2014.

1. Cluster Evaluation Working group. Sharing TCI expertise
Madeline Smith
Parallel 4.1 New Cluster Policies and Cluster Evaluation
12 November 2014

2. CLUSTER EVALUATION WORKING GROUP
SHARING TCI EXPERTISE
MADELINE SMITH
INSTITUTE OF DESIGN INNOVATION, GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART

3. TCI common agenda
• Evidencing value – ROI of clusters
– for companies
– for partners and stakeholders
– for funders
– for policy makers
• Reviewing progress
• NOT audit
• All about learning
• Flip side of strategy

4. Common Challenges
• Different audiences want different things
• Complex and causality challenges
• All about showing change
–Hard economic data
–Softer measures of improvement
–Stories of the process – building collaboration etc.
–How and why it works

5. Cluster Evaluation Working Group
• Grappling with same issues
• Share expertise
• Showcase good practice
• Develop new approaches

8. 3 Key questions
• Q1: How can we develop and share a TCI “Fruit Salad” of
current good practice and techniques in cluster evaluation?
• Q2: How do we factor in the Human Element into Cluster
Evaluations
• Q3: How do we evidence and communicate the Critical
Success Factors in Clusters?

9. Kolding Conference Sep 2013
• Discussion Meeting
• Exhibition
• Presentation

10. Working Group Meeting Belfast
• 25 participants, 11 countries/regions
• Hosted Invest NI
• Focus 3 questions
• What is success?
• What do we know?
• What are the gaps?

11. Cluster Evaluation Game

12. Focused brainstorm

13. Outputs
• Newsletter updates
• Mini Projects
– Capturing the Human element?
• Collated learning
– Working group booklet

14. Further steps
• Website space
• Mini projects
• Global Evaluation interest
• Webinars?
• Further meeting?
• TCI 2015…

15. Madeline Smith
m.smith@gsa.ac.uk