THE NEXT SOCIETY launched the Third Benchmarking Visit & Training in Wallonia

4 min readNov 18, 2019

The third Benchmarking Visit & Training organised by THE NEXT SOCIETY took place in Wallonia, Belgium, from October 28 to November 1, 2019. After Catalonia (Spain) and Piedmont (Italy), this Walloon Benchmarking Visit and Training gathered a delegation of 13 cluster managers and representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia to take part to this third inspiring edition.

Within the framework of THE NEXT SOCIETY’s Cluster Booster Track, the programme of the week focused on the following topics: cluster governance; members engagement; international network development.

It combined theoretical sessions and work on practical case studies, which were completed by visits of the premises of Walloon clusters to explore examples of successful cluster management practices and projects. These activities included the participation of clusters from Wallonia such as Wagralim (food-processing), Cluster Eco-construction (Eco-building) and its member company Isohemp, and TWIST (media).

The delegation also had the opportunity to meet representatives from Walloon organisations that support Research & Innovation in SMEs and Tech Transfer in ICT : the Wallonia-Brussels Research and innovation Platform, Research and innovation support office and CETIC, the Center of Excellence in Information and Communication Technology.

Finally, THE NEXT SOCIETY delegation participated to the KIKK festival, a renowned event on the international digital & creative scene.

The main objective of this Benchmarking Visit & Training was to provide South Mediterranean cluster managers with new methodologies and tools on cluster management topics, as identified through the diagnosis phase of their clusters, as well as to generate new contacts to boost collaboration opportunities.

It was organised by AWEX, host of the Mediterranean delegation, and France Clusters, coordinator of the Cluster Booster Track, both partners of THE NEXT SOCIETY, initiative held by ANIMA.

In 2020, a fourth Benchmarking Visit & Training will be organised in the South region — Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (France), by France Clusters and risingSUD (the economic development agency for the Sud region in France).