In these times of presidential campaign, there is hardly a day without one or the other of the candidates evoking the key role of the poles of competitiveness (clusters) for the future of France. While everyone agrees that this initiative carried by the Raffarin government in its last days started in french Regions a new dynamics of efforts and growth, one may nevertheless wonder about its success as so much remains to be done.
In spite of their desire, SME and even more the VSME have great difficulty to tie their coaches to this train of progress, between the actors of origin and of very different horizons it is still about cooperation more than a close collaboration, the private financings remain negligible compared to the public funds, the international remaining still often the last priority, etc… In fact, our poles pain to fill their gap to the clusters of other countries which preceded them in this way, as the Spanish Basque Country, Bavaria, Finland and Quebec, to quote these only.
It appears therefore more than desirable to make a first assessment after 18 months of operation and more than half a billion euros invested by the State on the various approved projects. Each actor will inevitably evaluate the success with the ell of its ambitions or of its own objectives, but the true question is “What about the House France to date, and especially for tomorrow?”. To answer that, it is necessary to try an evaluation of the poles of competitiveness (clusters), starting with criteria and methods on which everyone agrees: it is the objective of the seminar which France Competitiveness organized on March 26 with the participation of Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin as conclusion keynote speaker (see synthesis of the interventions on the Forum).
We have in front of us a window of opportunity of 12 to 18 months to capitalize on this first progress and to produce tangible results before the enthusiasm of the beginning starts falling down like a soufflé or that, even worse, this exceptional program turns out gradually to become a financing pump. To convert the try, we have here a true challenge to which should confront all those who aspire to the supreme office!
Posted by FC at mars 29, 2007 09:58 AM