Clustering for Scalable Impact
Clustering for Scalable Impact
The power of collaboration through Clusters was unleashed at the 2022 TCI Oceania Conference in Cairns - ‘Clustering for Scalable Impact’.
Every few years, the TCI Oceania Chapter hosts a conference to discuss the latest ideas on Clusters. This year the conference was run in beautiful, tropical Cairns. The theme for the 2022 conference was Clustering for Scalable Impact. The event provided the perfect platform to connect, share ideas and network face-to-face with stakeholders far and wide.
A total of 63 people attended nine sessions over the course of one and a half days, led by 10 international, forward-thinking keynote speakers including Merete Daniel Nielsen, Prof Madeline Smith, Dr Allan O’Connor, Dr Sam Bucolo, and Dr Emily Wise.
More than 10 Clusters from six sectors within Australia gained access to tools and expertise surrounding designing and operating a Cluster for sustainability and scale.
Discussions centred on the topics of collective leadership, Cluster impacts by design and how Clusters are building for sustainability and scale. Participants also dove into the notion of building trust, unlocking the power of collaboration and measuring the impact of collective leadership, all to amplify a Cluster's overall impact.
"The power of collaboration means people are open to conversation, people are building relationships and people are prepared to share. These three elements, alongside the journey of building trust, will strengthen and build momentum post-conference for Cluster's and their respective sectors," said Mirjana Prica, Managing Director of FIAL and Chair of TCI Oceania.
"This had to be the best thing I have done to date as chair. So many great connections were made, my brain is buzzing with extra ideas that I hadn't even thought of. We got to work on our cluster in today's workshop which was quite a beautiful exchange of energies, ideas and hard questions." - Irene Pollak from Circular Economy FNQ.
The connections generated at this conference are essential to collectively scale-up small-to-medium enterprises across all sectors, including Australia’s Food and Agribusiness sector. Event partner, FIAL, has been a key driver of Clusters within Australia's Food and Agribusiness sector. They have supported the establishment and growth of 12 Clusters nationally, including the Tropical North Queensland Regional Food Network based in Cairns.
Newfound learnings of Clusters and how they can foster collaboration, growth, trust and innovation will aid in this objective and resonate nation-wide across Australia’s Food and Agribusiness sector and all sectors.
About TCI Oceania Chapter: TCI Oceania is one of formal regional Chapters of the TCI Network, which is the leading global network of people and organizations working in clusters and innovation ecosystems around the world.
Clusters are geographically proximate groups of interconnected companies, including government, research and industry, allowing businesses to collectively create a local ecosystem to foster trust and knowledge, and drive innovation and growth.
Case study produced by FIAL Project Officer, Amber Keep