October 25th, 2016

The “Silicon Europe Worldwide” project aims at implementing the internationalisation strategy of the Silicon Europe Alliance, part the part of the internationalisation beyond Europe. In this internationalisation strategy, Taiwan and the US had been identified as the primary targets for setting up cluster-to-cluster cooperation, at the benefit of the cluster members.
As part of this strategy implementation, the team of the Silicon Europe Worldwide project had already contributed to and participated in the European Innovation Week in Taiwan, earlier this year in June. At that occasion, first contacts had been established with different Taiwanese clusters and cluster-like organisations.
The contacts initiated at the occasion of the European Innovation Week in Taiwan have now got a follow-up action: a delegation of about 15 Taiwanese companies has visited the Semicon Europe exhibtion in Grenoble, from 25 till 27 October. Together with the European clusters of the Silicon Europe Worldwide project, a B2B-matchmaking has been organised, unlocking new cooperation opportunities between European and Taiwanese companies active in the equipment and materiasl supply chain of the semiconductor industry.

At this occasion, also 2 MOUs have been signed:

• An MOU between Minalogic, the Grenoble-based electronics cluster, and MIRDC, the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre, operating out of Kaohsiung in Taiwan. Minalogic is a member of the Silicon Europe Worldwide project consortium, and founding member of the Silicon Europe Alliance.
• An MOU between the Silicon Europe Worldwide project, representing 6 European electronics and semiconductor clusters, and TAITRA, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.

The MOU between Silicon Europe Worldwide and TAITRA confirms their common desire to further strengthen their cooperation in support of Taiwanese and European joint business and technological endeavours. The envisaged support will target particular SMEs and knowledge institutes located in Taiwan and Europe that are active in the thematic fields of micro- and nano-electronic and Smart-X systems, willing to develop strategic business alliances and joint research activities and are interested in sourcing and sharing cutting-edge technologies and related competences.
As such, TAITRA and Silicon Europe Worldwide envisage to jointly organise, through the relevant regional cluster organisations, activities bringing companies and knowledge institutes from both ecosystems together.
Both Silicon Europe Worldwide cluster partners and TAITRA hope that this MOU will provide the foundation and the framework for a deepened collaboration, and hope that this may help and support European and Taiwanese companies to find new partnership opportunities, strengthening their competitive position in the global economy.
 

In the same week of their visit to Semicon Europe in Grenoble, the Taiwanese delegation has also visited the French pôle de compétitivité SCS (Solutions Communicantes Sécurisées) in the southern French region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. SCS is also one of the clusters partnering in the Silicon Europe Alliance.

About the Silicon Europe Worldwide project
Silicon Europe Worldwide is a collaboration project of six European cluster organisations. The Silicon Europe Worldwide clusters are all member of the Silicon Europe Alliance. The following clusters participate in the Silicon Europe Worldwide project: DSP-Valley of Belgium, High Tech NL of the Netherlands, Minalogic of France, Silicon Saxony of Germany, MI-Cluster of Greece and Fondazione Distretto Green & High Tech Monza-Brianza of Italy. The Silicon Europe Alliance consists of the following additional clusters: Gaia of Spain, NMI of the UK, BCS-NL of the Netherlands, SCS of France, and Midas of Ireland. In the execution of this MOU, Silicon Europe Worldwide will involve the additional Alliance members to the largest extend possible. After termination of the Silicon Europe project In December 2017, continuation is foreseen through the Silicon Europe Alliance.
The Silicon Europe Worldwide project is funded by the European Commission, under the COSME Go International programme. The Silicon Europe Worldwide project is recognised as a European Strategic Cluster Partnership for Internationalisation (ESCP-4i).