© Energy Cluster Denmark 2023
Energy Cluster Denmark works together with a number of international partners to identify opportunities across the entire value chain. The cluster investigates opportunities for Danish companies and finds potential international partners that could be the right match for long-term partnerships.
As part of the ELBE Alliance (Europe Leading Blue Energy), Energy Cluster Denmark collaborates with six leading cluster organisations from Spain, Scotland, Belgium, Norway and France with a focus on positioning Europe as the world’s leading technological and industrial development area in offshore wind and wave technology in new markets in North America (USA and Canada) and Asia (Taiwan, Japan and South Korea).
For example, offshore wind is set to become an industry worth billions worldwide. In Europe alone, the offshore wind sector is set to grow by several hundred percent. The partners in ELBE have also mapped over 750 organisations in Europe within the aforementioned areas.
These European companies and organisations are ready to support other nations outside Europe in the green transition and towards renewable energy production. A number of activities have been planned with a focus on these markets, and ECD members have the opportunity to participate.
In Germany, Energy Cluster Denmark is currently building networks and forming collaborations around hydrogen and Power-to-X subjects, e.g. with Innovation Center Denmark in Munich and various cluster partners.
The leading partner of the ELBE Alliance is the Spanish cluster, The Basque Energy Cluster (Cluster Energia). Executive Assistant Marcos Suarez Garcia has nothing but praise for the collaboration between the Basque Energy Cluster and Energy Cluster Denmark. He summarised the collaboration in two words: Strategic and fluid.
“Strategic because Denmark is the world leader in wind energy, which is also one of our core areas, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to establish activities that benefit members of both of our organisations. Fluid because our personal relationship has always been very good.
We are quite aligned in our goals and understand open collaboration as a critical opportunity. This always makes it much easier to start activities, and collaborations are very much based on mutual trust and understanding”, says Marcos Suarez Garcia.
He considers critical mass to be the greatest benefit of the collaboration.
“The technological and industrial development of the energy sector is so fast and intense that your organisation quickly runs out of capacity to establish new projects and approach new markets. Our collaboration with Energy Cluster Denmark gives our companies easy access to Danish companies, which become their partners for future challenges. Our collaboration within the framework of the ELBE Alliance is a perfect example of how we can work together to reach new markets for renewable energy. It would be much harder to do alone”. Garcia believes that the Spanish cluster has many things it can learn from Energy Cluster Denmark.
“ECD is a much larger cluster, and our organisation is expected to grow in the coming years. In this regard, we have learned a lot in terms of internal processes, structuring the relationship with our members, organising value-added activities, etc. In fact, we visited Denmark a few years ago, and that has led to our organisation now being on its way to completing the process to achieve the Gold Label of Cluster Management. An award that Energy Cluster Denmark has already achieved,” Marcos Suarez Garcia continues.
His best advice to Energy Cluster Denmark is: “Continue working with the Basque Energy Cluster. Your beer and our food are a powerful combination!”
© Energy Cluster Denmark 2023