"Catalonia; a Cluster, a Hub or a Node – Choices for Cork". A presentation I gave to the UCC Executive MBA class during their study tour to Barcelona in April 2014.

1. “Catalonia; Cluster, Hub or Node?
Choices for Cork”
by Joe Haslam
Executive Director, #OEMP
Associate Professor, IE Business School
Barcelona, Spain
Monday, 14th April, 2014.

2. Clár an Lae
1. Second City Syndrome
2. How well do you know Cork?
3. How well do you know Barcelona?
4. Clusters, Hubs & Nodes
5. Takeaways

3. 1. Second City Syndrome

9. "Since 1800, 22 former Spanish colonies have become independent.
None of them regrets it." "

10. “I can only imagine an independent Catalonia adding
costs, hiring more people in government, building an
army and other nonsensical moves that make the
financial hole Catalonia is in even deeper”

11. 2. How well do you know Cork?

12. You tell me!!!

13. Cork is the chosen European manufacturing
and services location for the worldwide
operations of such major corporations as
Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lily,
Schering Plough, Apple Inc., Boston
Scientific, Stryker, Johnson & Johnson,
EMC, Amazon, Bank of New York Mellon
and Citco.”
1. MNCs
2. Research
3. Port
4. Soft stuff
Cork Harbour is Europe's largest
natural harbour and the Port of Cork
utilises this asset by providing
Ireland's only multi-purpose deep
sea port facility.
Cork offers a safe,
welcoming, and friendly
location with the perfect
lifestyle balance
Cork also possesses a number of world renowned
research institutes such as the Tyndall National
Research Institute; the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre;
Moorepark Dairy and Food Research Centre

16. “one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by
navigational area" (after Port Jackson, Sydney).
Other contenders include Halifax Harbour in Canada, and Poole Harbour in England.
The largest non-navigational harbour and the largest natural harbour in the world is New
Zealand's Kaipara Harbour, at 947 km².

18. 2. How well do you know Barcelona?

21. Tourism: 2.5m (1993) - 7.6m (2013)
% of Economy: 4% (1993) - 14% (2013)
Barcelona is the world’s
fourth busiest cruise ship
port, with 2.6m passengers
in 2013 (up from 152,000 in
1993),
Last August, Barcelona’s
airport passenger count
surpassed Madrid’s for the
first time.
Barcelona Turisme: old city,
Sagrada Família and Park Güell
as tourism flash points.

22. Nevertheless, in addition to maintaining the tourism-branding at which it excels, “the
city is also developing a more sustainable model of place branding in line with other
world cities, to attract businesses and talent from outside. Developed under the
slogan Barcelona Inspires, Prof Fernández explains, core assets of the older, tourist
model – sea, climate, Gaudí, Barça football club – are being widened to project an
image of innovation, creativity and talent.

31. Monday March 31
2014
Poblenou is a cluster of converted factories
and striking new buildings that are home to
research institutions, high-tech companies,
corporate headquarters, government
agencies and apartments

34. Mango
La Caixa
Gas Natural
FC Barcelona
Banco Sabadell

36. 4. Clusters v Hubs

37. “Pick a hot industry, build a technology park next to a
research university, provide incentives for businesses to
relocate, add some VC and then watch the magic happen”.
Vivek Wadhwa

38. - communication channels that local
entrepreneurs maintain to the
outside world
- open-mindedness toward foreign
cultures, change and new ideas”.
- Regional and national clusters are
“irrelevant for innovation”
Key Drivers of Innovation
Companies that maintain ties only with players within the
same cluster are four times LESS LIKELY to innovate
than those which were globally connected.

39. “Silicon Valley, despite being at the center of
the digital world, is a hopelessly insular and
actually rather hermetic place.
Even its famous immigrant culture emphasizes
joining the SV way.
For all its talk of innovation, it resists almost
anyone who is not part of its mainstream“

42. 5. Takeaway

44. “Be a node … not a cluster”

46. “Of all required criteria, it is essential that the chosen
entrepreneurs work in a global mindset, believing that
the route to success is via expansion not isolation.”

52. Joe Haslam
B.Comm, M.Sc., University College, Cork
MBA, IE Business School
Lives in: Madrid, Spain
http://www.linkedin.com/in/joehas
http://twitter.com/joehas
'The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.'
Walter Bagehot (1826 - 1877)