The presentation explores the relationship between Quality Infrastructure and Cluster Competitiveness. It was presented by Dr. Ulrich Harmes-Liedtke at the TCI Conference in Monterrey/ Mexico, 2014, November 11

1. QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE &
CLUSTER COMPETITIVENESS
ULRICH HARMES-LIEDTKE

2. CLARIFYING TERMINOLOGY
WHAT IS MEANT BY
QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE (QI)?
17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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3. National
Quality
Infrastructure
A national system
of organizations
and services to
assure quality and
assess conformity
in international
trade It’s not about
the quality of infrastructure

4. Key elements of QI
Formerly QI was called MSTQ

5. QI components are interlinked

6. QI is a service system for the whole value
chain

7. SENSE MAKING
HOW QI RELATES TO CLUSTERS
AND VICE VERSA?
17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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8. Cluster success depends on linkages
Cluster Greenbook 2.0
highlights the importance of
bridging between
• Firms and
• Government
• Research organizations
• Education organizations and
• Capital providers
Firms
Research
organisations
Education
organisations
Government
Capital
providers

9. INTERNAL INNOVATION GAPS
1. Research gap - barring interaction
between firms and research
organizations
2. Education gap - barring interaction
between firms and education
organizations
3. Capital gap - barring interaction
between firms and education
organizations
4. Government gap - barring interaction
between firms and public bodies
5. Firm-to-firm gap barring interaction
among firms in the cluster
EXTERNAL INNOVATION GAPS
6. Cross-cluster gap barring interaction
with firms in other
clusters/technologies
7. Global market gap barring interaction
with global markets and value chains
Four of seven gaps
are related to QI!
GAPS OF INNOVATION IN
CLUSTERS.
Source: SÖLVELL, Ö. & WILLIAMS, M. 2013. Building the Cluster Commons (Cluster Orangebook).

10. Mutual benefit of closing the
gap
Research nexus – Joint research can improve productivity
and enable radical innovations (i.e. Industry 4.0)
Government nexus – Can make technical regulations and
inspection more business friendly and public investment
in QI respond better to cluster needs
Global nexus: Using QI services help
cluster firms to comply with buyer
requirements and get access to global
markets

11. MUTUAL COOPERATION BENEFITS
FOR CLUSTERS AND QI
 Since both operate on different levels, there are few natural
points of contact:
o Territorial/ Local: Clusters with localized services of national QI
reduce transaction costs, get services tailored to their specific needs
and closeness of scientific institutions can stimulate innovation
o National: QI gets better informed about industry needs, can adapt
their service development to cluster needs and claim its contribution
to territorial competitiveness
 Facilitation can help to overcome communication failure

12. THE CALIDENA APPROACH
PRACTICAL COOPERATION BETWEEN
CLUSTERS AND QI
17 TH TCI GLOBAL CONFERENCE | CREATING SHARED VALUE THROUGH CLUSTERS FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
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13. CALIDENA APPROACH
CALIDAD (Spanish word for “Quality” (Infrastructure)
+ CADENA (Spanish word for “Chain” and synonymous for
Value Chain)
_____________________________________
= CALIDENA
Methodology of the Technical Cooperation of the German
Metrology Institute

14. METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACH
• Promotes practical activities to
strengthen quality services for a value
chain in order to increase
competitiveness
• Based on a rapid participatory
assessment of a value chain
• Focus on quality of the processes and
products in each link
• Addresses potentials and weaknesses

15. DIALOGUE TERRITORIALIZED
VALUE CHAINS AND QI
Cluster
perspective
=
Territorial
perspective
Value-chain perspective =
Functional Perspective
Interaction between companies
Specialisation between
companies
Learning by interacting
Upgrading by interacting
and specialising
Functional focus of action
plans
Territorial
focus of
action plans

16. Costa Rica - Shrimps
Cluster
2007 European Union closed borders
to shrimp from Costa Rica, because of
deficiencies in handling and control
of residues in processing plants.
Europe oblige “third countries” to guarantee equivalent control system
25 producers affected who provided direct employment to 1,800
people and indirect employment to another 23,000 in transportation,
veterinary services, airlines, etc.
PTB supported collaboration between Food Safety Authority (SENASA)
and Fish Exporters Chamber in the establishment of a National Quality
System
Success in record time: European Union reopened market already in
2008.

17. Sacha Inchi - San Martin Region
Native fruit form the Amazonia rain forest with
a cluster in Peru’s San Martin Region.
Access to European and US market restricted
for novel food
Producer need to show scientific evidence that
fruit and its derivates are not harmful to health
PTB supported with CALIDENA the elaboration of national standards and
research to comply with novel food requirement.
Recently producers of archived the access to most demanding
Nmaatrikoentas l QI bodies learnt about local needs and provided more
territorialized services

18. SINCE 2007
CALIDENA IS APPLIED IN MORE
THAN 20 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE

19. CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS OF
CALIDENA
1. Selection of the right chain in an appropriate moment
2. Identification of motivated stakeholders to improve and
change
3. Diversity and representativeness of different stakeholder
groups
4. Presence of the buyers perspective
5. Active involvement of National QI and conformity assessment
bodies
6. Professional facilitation in preparation, workshop and follow

20. CONCLUSIONS
4
 QI services are a blind spot of cluster promotion
 This kind of collaboration does not develop always
by itself
 CALIDENA responds to need for facilitation and
methodologies
 Experience shows mutual benefits Clusters and QI

21. MORE INFORMATION
 CALIDENA Website, www.calidena.com
 Twitter @calidena
 LinkedIn #CALIDENA Community Group
 Technical Cooperation of PTB, www.ptb.de
 Mesopartner Theme QI,
http://www.mesopartner.com/themes/quality-infrastructure/