The project Danube S3 Cluster aims at fostering transnational cluster cooperation in the agro-food sector in the Danube region. To do so, it has developed a transnational cluster strategy and executed training for clusters. In addition, 5 local action plans – in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovakia – have been developed as pilot actions to test the strategy. The activities of pilot actions have been ranging from organization of different events and workshops where various project ideas have been discussed to the organization of two brokerage events, where clusters were trying to identify potential partners and get to the signature of the cluster cooperation agreements.

Each of the local action plans has been targeting different topics, as shown in the following table:

Partners participated or organized 67 events within the scope of local action plans. Those events/actions attracted more than 250 different organizations representing different corners of the quadruple helix model.

Partners managed to conclude 17 cluster cooperation agreements, where even 15 of them have been cross-border. Serbian clusters or cluster members managed to be involved in 4 out of 5 local action plans, with high representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the other hand also Slovenian clusters and cluster members have been attracting cooperation, with two cooperation agreements being signed with Slovakian organization and one with BIH organization.

In order to improve the project impact and ensure its durability, the consortium created links with the European Cluster Cooperation Platform (ECCP) and under the coordination of INMA, 11 clusters active on Agro-Food from the partner regions and countries joined this transnational cooperation platform. Last but not least, the project consortium set up a transnational network in Danube region and a Partnership Agreement was signed in order to ensure its sustainability after the closure of the project. Several projects have signed the Partnership Agreement, and became members of the Danube S3 Cluster Network, as a result of the discussions initiated during brokerage events in Ruse and Bucharest, bilateral meetings, experiences from other projects, followed by technical negotiations and clarifications related to the idea of partnership. Finally, 13 partners, 6 synergic projects and 3 clusters signed the Partnership Agreement, while project will be doing its best to continue this path of engaging different organizations, projects and networks to join its network until the end of the project. The DanubeS3Cluster Network will be integrated, as support services, as a thematic network and backed up by the DIH AGRIFOOD (https://mapping.dih-agrifood.com/) and IPA CIFATT Platform’s services, in order to be able to utilize existing DIH infrastructure, network and communication channels.