Kharkiv IT Cluster Joins the European Expert Group on Cluster Policy

27 Березня

On 17 March 2026, Brussels hosted the kick-off meeting of the European Expert Group on Cluster Policy — an advisory body to the European Commission that will shape EU cluster policy through 2027. Kharkiv IT Cluster is among its members.

The group brings together approximately 60 members from across countries and sectors: representatives of national authorities, public entities, stakeholder organisations, businesses, and academia. Its core mandate: to deliver recommendations to EU cluster policymakers and cluster managers.

The meeting was opened by Mariella Masselink, Head of Unit at DG GROW (the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market and Industry), responsible for Industrial Forums, Alliances, and Clusters. The opening address was delivered by Anna Athanasopoulou, Director for Simplification and Networks.

The context in which the group will operate is clear. The Draghi Report — a competitiveness analysis commissioned by the European Commission in 2024 — finds that no EU innovation cluster ranks in the global top 10, while the US has 4 and China has 3. EU R&D spending has remained flat at 2.2% of GDP for ten years, against a 3% target. Business digitalisation is growing, but more slowly than in competing economies.

The group's work will be structured around six themes: closing the innovation gap, decarbonisation and competitiveness, reducing dependencies and increasing security, simplification, removing barriers in the Single Market, and investment.

Format: 4 in-person meetings (March and October 2026, March and October 2027), with online working group sessions in between. In November 2026 — SME&Cluster Assembly in Dublin. The recommendation report is due by end of 2027. The group's outputs will inform cluster support instruments under the new MFF — the EU's seven-year budget framework for 2028–2034.

Kharkiv IT Cluster's participation in this format means direct access to the process where policy is made — policy that will define support instruments for clusters and their members in the years ahead. For companies that are part of Kharkiv IT Cluster, it means their interests and experience reach the level where decisions are taken.

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