The Cluster

introduction

After completing the first stage of the Basque Country Food Cluster, and coinciding with the completion of our Strategic Plan 2012-2015, we have paused to take stock of what has been achieved to date, to organise the agency, and to generate the momentum to address the challenges of our new 2016-2019 Strategic Plan.

We have tried to make the process of developing this new Strategic Plan as participatory as possible. Although we are aware of the heterogeneity of the sector and of the value chain, this has enabled us to identify the various sensibilities and needs of our partners and design a portfolio of services tailored to their needs.

Despite its youth, the Cluster has experienced a remarkable development in recent years, focusing its efforts on recruiting new members, generating an environment of trust, and promoting working groups aimed at fostering cooperation and identifying synergies among the partners through the Sareak Indartzen project.

However, we cannot stop there, and the next few years are seen as a change of cycle where the great challenge is to consolidate the Food Cluster project for the future by increasing its level of representation within the sector and promoting high-value initiatives for our partners by transforming opportunities into tangible projects.

This is how we aim to become the key agent in the Basque Food Industry, representing the entire value chain and promoting competitiveness within the sector and our position among the leading economic sectors in the region.

This implies that the Cluster's main mission is to increase the competitiveness of Basque companies in the food sector, facilitating meetings and relationships that will revitalise and promote cooperation and the development of shared high-value projects, favouring their relationships with other agents.

The challenges ahead of us are many. Some of the most important are increasing representativeness, achieving greater financial autonomy, and enhancing the value of our partners.

To meet these challenges, we have set out two major Strategic Goals, namely the support for Basque companies in the food sector regarding market development and innovation (technological and non-technological), and promoting the growth and consolidation of the Cluster. These goals, in turn, translate into 10 Strategic Lines with their relevant actions and indicators.

In this whole process, the people and teams that make up our partner organisations should be the basis of our growth as a Cluster, which is why we should pay special attention to its development.