Sustainable innovation through cross-collaboration: Insights from the Endurance project’s handbook
As the complexity of the green transition increases, so does the need for innovative approaches to address sustainability challenges. The Endurance Project, co-funded by the European Union, aims to empower clusters and SMEs to navigate these challenges. A key element of this initiative is the recently published handbook, which highlights different scenarios where clusters can play a key role in promoting sustainability. One of these is Scenario 2: Cross-collaboration for sustainability – an approach that emphasizes partnerships across sectors, regions, and borders to develop innovative and scalable solutions.
Cross-collaboration: The key to sustainability
Cross-collaboration involves bringing together different stakeholders – whether from different sectors, industries, or regions – to address shared challenges. This approach is particularly effective in tackling sustainability issues, which require a broad spectrum of expertise. By leveraging the knowledge and resources of multiple partners, cross-collaboration fosters innovative problem- solving that might not be achievable within siloed efforts.
For cluster managers, the key to facilitating this type of collaboration is building networks that connect organizations with complementary skills and goals. They must act as brokers, guiding SMEs through the process of engaging with stakeholders outside their traditional business boundaries. This not only drives sustainability efforts but also helps SMEs enter new markets and adopt new practices.
Cross-sector and cross-border collaboration
Two forms of cross-collaboration particularly emphasized in the handbook are cross-sector and cross-border collaboration:
Cross-sector collaboration brings together organizations from different industries, government, and non-profit sectors. Successful partnerships leverage the combined strengths of these stakeholders to scale solutions and amplify impact. For example, businesses that collaborate with universities or research institutions may gain access to new technologies that drive both profitability and sustainability.
Cross-border collaboration involves overcoming the barriers, both legal, physical, and administrative, that often separate regions. By working together across national borders, clusters can share best practices, improve mobility, and gather resources to address global challenges such as climate change. Cross-border initiatives also expose local SMEs to international markets, helping them scale their innovations more effectively.
The role of cluster managers
Cluster managers play an essential role in these collaborative efforts. They are responsible for creating environments that encourage cooperation, identifying synergies between potential partners, and managing the complexities that come from working with diverse teams. The handbook highlights several practical tools that cluster managers can use to facilitate this process, including ecosystem mapping, which helps identify key stakeholders, and the T-shaped profile model, which encourages the development of broad collaboration skills alongside specialized and specific expertise. Cluster managers looking to incorporate cross-collaboration into their strategies, the handbook offers valuable insights into how to build and maintain these partnerships. It emphasizes the need for open communication, promote inclusive practices, and ensure that the partnerships formed are built on shared, measurable goals.
The Endurance Project’s handbook serves as a resource for cluster managers and SMEs that wish to engage in sustainable innovation. Scenario 2: Cross-collaboration for sustainability provides a framework for partnerships that drive both environmental and economic goals. By utilizing these strategies, clusters can enhance and ensure their long-term competitiveness in the global market.
The project is co-financed by the European Union.
For a more in-depth look into Scenario 2 and the Scenarios of the Endurance Project’s handbook, click here.
