The Cluster Team of the European Commission has reviewed all the major events and achievements of 2018 and presented the main plans and objectives for the year 2019. 

Firstly, it was launched the European Cluster Policy Forum (ECPF) with ministerial representatives of all the EU 28 Member States and were organised 3 meetings of the European Cluster Policy Forum in 2018 that were dedicated to:

(1) better use of clusters for driving industrial change and growth (22 February),

(2) the future of cluster labelling, a cluster mobility scheme and a European Cluster Week  (26 April), and

(3) entrepreneurship and scaling-up  (15 November).

For 2019, the most important events and activities will be:

• Firstly, the #EUClusterWeeks information and communication campaign, launched at the end of 2018, will see many national, regional, and local events for clusters and with clusters organised across Europe. The EU Cluster Weeks highlights the role of clusters and the results they achieve for supporting SME growth, industrial transformation and regional economic development. 
• Secondly, the results of the EU Cluster Weeks initiative will be presented at the European Cluster Conference, which will be organised under the Romanian EU Presidency. It will be expected 400 participants from all countries across Europe to share their experience and inspire the future of European cluster initiatives after 2020. Save the date and join the 6th European Cluster Conference “Connecting Ecosystems for a Stronger Europe” 14-16 May 2019, Bucharest, Romania.
• Thirdly, at the beginning of 2019, the EC will launch a new call for proposals of the European Cluster Excellence Programme. This will introduce a new ClusterXchange pilot scheme, which will support exchanges between cluster managers and cluster members across Europe to strengthen interregional cooperation and uptake of solutions.

Read the entire message of Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit Advanced Technologies, Clusters and Social Economy at European Commission here https://www.clustercollaboration.eu/news/year-2018-clustered-nutshell-message-cluster-team-european-commission.