1. Cluster Platforms Integration Possibilities Rainer Sträter Daniel Guedes

2. ACTION OBJECTIVES identify integration possibilities discuss possibilities propose an integration model

3. AGENDA introduction history of Brazilian and EU cluster platforms lessons learned structure of Brazilian and EU cluster platform integration possibilities potential timeline discussion next generation collaboration and knowledge management

4. CLUSTER PLATFORM GOALS observatory knowledge management communication & collaboration communication & collaboration knowledge management observe clusters

5. INTEGRATION BENEFITS access to people’ s knowledge across borders access to market (suppliers, customers and partners) expand the boundaries of cluster networks

6. CLUSTER PLATFORM HISTORIES US Cluster codes and performance measures by Porter US cluster codes are translated to Europe cluster codes by Ketels, Lindkvist and Sölvell EU-10 cluster mapping EU-27+4 cluster mapping and launch of ECO version 1 ECCP version 2 (under discussion) ECO version 2 and ECCP version 1 are launched Discussions started Conceptual definitions Technical definitions Development, pilot project, tests, training and launch deployment of EAD platform, publish indicators ecommerce platform

7. LESSONS LEARNED have a clear understanding of the target group (e.g. surveys) start the platform with limited key features and enhance continuously in small steps only launch well tested features to avoid disappointed users provide an easy to understand user navigation (KISS) avoid redundant content the quality and actuality of information, including user and organization profiles is crucial do not underestimate the initial and ongoing marketing effort

8. CLUSTER PLATFORM STRUCTURE BRAZIL APL PortalBDN present maps and profiles of clusters, cluster organizations, support institutions and local governments cluster products clusters development plans news & announcements documents calendar events good practices present maps and profiles of clusters, cluster organizations, support institutions and local governments cluster products clusters development plans news & announcements documents calendar events good practices user profiles communities of clusters, interest groups and staff (GTP) discussion boards blogs wikis documents bookmarks activities user profiles communities of clusters, interest groups and staff (GTP) discussion boards blogs wikis documents bookmarks activities APL Network data of clusters, cluster organizations, support institutions, local government surveys forms and data KPIs, statistical data provide data for APL Portal data of clusters, cluster organizations, support institutions, local government surveys forms and data KPIs, statistical data provide data for APL Portal

9. CLUSTER PLATFORM STRUCTURE EU clusterobservatory.euclustercollaboration.eu mapping of clusters and cluster organisations catalog of users, organizations, networks, sectors and regions scoreboard trainings (classroom) calendar, wiki and library mapping of clusters and cluster organisations catalog of users, organizations, networks, sectors and regions scoreboard trainings (classroom) calendar, wiki and library mapping of cluster organizations and cluster members communities of cluster organizations and special interest groups cluster and user profiles calls and tenders projects (EU and international) matchmaking events offers and requests good practices training mapping of cluster organizations and cluster members communities of cluster organizations and special interest groups cluster and user profiles calls and tenders projects (EU and international) matchmaking events offers and requests good practices training

10. PLATFORM STRUCTURE EU restricted accesspublic access clusterobservatory.euclustercollaboration.eu public access restricted access communities interests groups communities cluster organizations

11. INTEGRATION POSSIBILITIES cross platform mapping of cluster organizations cross platform public activities/news exchange cross platform search linking blog entries cross platform contact list following users across platforms cross platform community activities / news exchange cross platform communities benchmarking

12. INTEGRATION POSSIBILITIES cross platform mapping of cluster organizations - Daniel cross platform public activities/news exchange - Rainer cross platform search - Daniel linking blog entries - Rainer contact users – Daniel following users - Rainer cross platform community activities / news exchange - Daniel cross platform communities - Rainer Benchmarking Rainer

13. CROSS PLATFORM MAPPING OF CO introduction the geographical mapping of cluster organizations is the usual starting point for all platform users structured directory of cluster organizations with geographical and sectorial filter options cluster organizations of the other platform can be integrated on the map with a linking to there profile on the origin platform today both platforms have their own mapping of cluster organizations

14. CROSS PLATFORM MAPPING OF CO integration approach Brazilian cluster organizations will be visible on the European cluster platform and vice versa selecting a cluster organization will present the name and a link to the profile of this cluster organization the link will redirect to the profile located at the original platform or at the homepage of the cluster organization

15. CROSS PLATFORM MAPPING OF CO PROs visibility of cluster organization profiles on both platforms user friendly access to cluster organization profiles CONs selecting a profile will redirect to the originating platform programming is required new cluster organizations need to be synchronized periodically (automatically once per week) and are not available instantly

16. CROSS PLATFORM MAPPING OF CO risks: (none) effort: the cross platform mapping requires implementation on both platforms the total cost of ownership (TCO) is low

17. CROSS PLATFORM ACTIVITIES EXCHANGE introduction both platforms provide a public activity stream this activity stream contains announcements, news, upcoming events, etc. of the local collaboration platform the ECCP comprises a Brazilian community with locally generated information

18. CROSS PLATFORM ACTIVITIES EXCHANGE

19. PROs direct access to the activities of the other platform for interested users (being member of the corresponding community/interest group selecting an activity will redirect to the originator and display the entire content CONs selecting an activity will redirect to the originating platform restricted content is only visible, if the user is authorize on the other platform programming is required language barrier

20. CROSS PLATFORM SEARCH introduction getting access to relevant information is one of the platform key drivers like Wikipedia, both cluster platforms provide an increasing and crowd sourced knowledge base powerful search algorithms deliver structured results ordered by relevance content news, announcements, events reports, conference presentations, calls and tenders, good practices profiles of cluster organizations, cluster members, platform users and experts

21. CROSS PLATFORM SEARCH integration approach structured search results from both platforms results are ordered by relevance results are transparently tagged with the national flag to indicate the origin the proposed integration technology is based on open and worldwide standards called OpenSearch

22. CROSS PLATFORM SEARCH PROs direct access to the knowledge database of the other platform initiating the search is user friendly because the user interface does not change new content is instantly available tremendous increase of accessible content CONs selecting a search result will redirect to the originating platform (as with google) restricted content is only visible, if the user is authorize on the other platform programming is required language barrier

23. CROSS PLATFORM SEARCH Risks: Quality of platform managements Effort: the cross platform search requires implementation on both platforms the total cost of ownership (TCO) is very low

24. LINKING BLOG ENTRIES introduction blogs becoming the 21 st century articles/essays blogs are the simplest way to share knowledge with other internet users users can comment and rate blog entries to qualify the content blog entries can be connected to other associated blogs to build a worldwide wikipedia like content network both platforms make extensively use of blogs actual the blogs are not yet linked therefore related entries are difficult to find

25. LINKING BLOG ENTRIES integration approach connecting blog entries is possible today (no implementation is required) there seem to be a lack of understanding how to use the powerful linking of blog content create a very simple tutorial explaining the usage of links between blog entries

26. LINKING BLOG ENTRIES PROs building a growing and spanning knowledge base across the platforms even content of blogs outside the platforms can be linked no development required CONs blogs seems to be for skilled technicians and nerds language barrier

27. CROSS PLATFORM CONTACT LIST introduction today users can expand their personal network by adding other users to their contact list being accepted by a user is required to: get access to restricted user data to get in contact with this user to follow this users activities and read the users activity stream

28. CROSS PLATFORM CONTACT LIST

29. PROs building a growing and spanning contact network stay in contact with users on an international level and keep up to date with all their activities the “contact” process is well known from other social networks CONs users might have already a contact network on a common social network programming is required

30. FOLLOW USERS ACROSS PLATFORMS

31. FELLOW USERS CROSS PLATFORM PROs keep up to date with activities of selected users the “following” functionality is well known from other social networks CONs programming is required

32. CROSS PLATFORM COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES introduction communities are focusing on a dedicated topic and therefore provide valuable information for users interested in this topic searching trough all communities for new, valuable information is too time-consuming the platform can summarize activities from all communities of interest on a central and individual user page today this functionality is only available within the collaboration platforms but nor across the collaboration platforms

33. CROSS PLATFORM COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

34. PROs keep up to date with the activities of interesting communities the “following” functionality is well known from other social networks CONs user has to be member of the corresponding community programming is required

35. CROSS PLATFORM COMMUNITIES introduction today certain communities (interest groups) with similar topics and discussions reside on different, national collaboration platforms the activity and user contribution varies from community to community and is among other things based on the number of users the exchange of information and experience between communities is poor

36. CROSS PLATFORM COMMUNITIES

37. PROs collaboration is not limited by the boundaries of the national collaboration platforms users do not need to request memberships on multiple cluster collaboration platforms on an international level a larger number of users can contribute to the communities and therefore increase the value of community CONs programming is required

38. BENCHMARKING the existing European clusterobservatory platform does provide cluster information based on number of employees until 2009 access to this data is not restricted (public available) the observatory information is presented on an google map with advanced filtering possibilities a technical integration of cross country data is less challenging than the harmonization of the underlying “key performance indicators” at this point in time an integration of the two observatory platforms is not recommended

39. BENCHMARKING the complexity of providing up to date and reliable data about clusters is driven by: defining regional key performance indicators that allow international benchmarking as well keep underlying data up to date establish a successful incentive program that motivates the cluster managers to provide valuable data about their cluster (crowd souring)

40. SUMMARY a number of integration possibilities have been identified and (technically) analyzed the technical implementation could start immediately we propose to involve the users/cluster managers on the corresponding national collaboration platforms to prioritize the integration possibilities by voting the most valuable feature based on our lessons learned we recommend to start with a small number of features and implement additional integration possibilities step by step initiate the harmonization of “key performance indicators” for an international benchmarking

41. iterative integration approach POTENTIAL TIMELINE

42. cross platform mapping of cluster organizations cross platform public activities/news exchange cross platform search linking blog entries contact users following users cross platform community activities / news exchange cross platform communities benchmarking

43. INTEGRATION CHALLENGES considerable integration and development effort Increased total cost of ownership / maintenance costs impact on platform evolution due to increasing complexity

44. DISCUSSION

45. NEXT GENERATION online translation as already available from Google enhanced collaboration functionalities like: virtual conference rooms, audio/video conferences shared working synchronization of user profiles with existing social networks (esp. LinkedIn and Xing)

46. NEXT GENERATION online translation as already available from Google

47. NEXT GENERATION enhanced collaboration functionalities (virtual conference rooms, shared working)

48. NEXT GENERATION synchronization of user profiles with existing social networks (esp. LinkedIn and Xing)

49. Thank You Rainer Sträter rainer.straeter@web.de Daniel Guedes daniel.guedes@gmail.com

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