Four industry organisations committed to cluster excellence

Clusters are concentrations of companies and institutions working in a particular sector that are committed to improve the international competitiveness of that sector. In the last two months, four Maltese cluster organisations achieved a Bronze Label for their commitment to cluster management excellence after committing to improve their processes and member services to make their sector more competitive. The Bronze Label was awarded by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis, following a process led by Malta Enterprise.

Finance Malta, the Federation of Language Teaching Organisations (FELTOM), the Malta Hotels & Restaurants Association (MHRA) and the Malta Business Aviation Association (MBAA) have been assessed on the basis of their structure, financing, services offered to members, international cooperation and the results their members attained over the last few years. The four clusters have committed to a process of improvement on all of the key criteria for cluster management excellence. Finance Malta and FELTOM will be audited by an international expert later this year to be awarded the Silver Label of quality in the way the cluster is managed.

This system of quality labels is becoming standard in Europe, as cluster organisations involved in a variety of sectors recognise the importance of being audited in order to improve the way they operate. The highest quality label for cluster management excellence is the Gold Label, currently held by just 51 clusters in Europe.

In the coming months, Malta Enterprise will be working with the four Maltese cluster organisations in order to prepare them for their respective quality audits. The four organisations represent important sectors in Malta’s economy and their commitment to excellence is an important step towards the betterment of the financial services, tourism, language training and business aviation sectors. In the meantime, the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), which is a partner on this project, is facilitating the attainment of a quality label for a fifth cluster organisation.

The European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis has been mandated by the European Commission to develop a system of quality labels as part of the EU’s effort to facilitate the setting up of world class clusters to improve its competitiveness. As the latest EU report on clusters states, companies located within clusters have a higher likelihood of growing and companies that are looking for a location are more likely to pick a cluster as their base.

Malta Enterprise is committed to the facilitation of clusters both to help companies internationalise and to make Malta more attractive to foreign investors. This initiative is part of a project funded by the EU. The project, which involves agencies from Malta, Lombardy (Italy) and Warsaw (Poland), is entitled ERICE and is funded under the European Cluster Excellence Initiative (CIP).