Clusters and the Crafts Sector

The federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is known as business location for high-tech products and leading-edge technology. Besides the excellent scientific and economic landscape, the technological development and industrial diversity in the federal state has also been driven by a large number of innovative crafts businesses. Over the past decades, these companies have contributed significantly to Baden-Wuerttemberg’s development. Prospectively, the high potential of crafts enterprises will have to be leveraged even stronger by the federal state’s innovation-oriented cluster initiatives and networks.

Stronger Leverage of the Potentials of Crafts Businesses

The participation of innovative crafts businesses in cluster initiatives and networks of Baden-Wuerttemberg has so far been low. The federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg is known as business location for high-tech products and leading-edge technology.

Baden-Wuerttemberg’s crafts industry consists of a large number of highly innovative enterprises, including some international companies, essentially contributing to the development of new products or services. Crafts enterprises can hence have a positive effect on the development of cluster initiatives and the federal state’s networks. In addition, interdisciplinary cooperation initiatives of science and economy established at regional and federal state level are considered a breeding ground for innovations, which benefit the crafts businesses in turn. Therefore, cluster managements from all sectors and technology fields as well as crafts enterprises and organisations should intensify their cooperation, in order to better leverage the available potentials.

Baden Wuerttemberg’s association of the crafts sector (Baden-Württembergischer-Handwerkstag e. V. [BWHT]) has launched, together with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, a study revealing the existing problems and giving recommendations for a better integration of crafts businesses into regional cluster initiatives and the federal state’s networks.

The booklet “Clustering in the Crafts Sector! Recommendations for Action for Cluster Managements and the Crafts Sector“ summarizes the most important activity fields for cluster managements and crafts organisations and provides concrete proposals for a successful initiation of contacts and sustainable cooperative relations.

Zitat Martina Ziegler EN
Contact person
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing
Department Cluster Policy
Regional Economic Policy
Edith Köchel
Theodor-Heuss-Straße 4
70174 Stuttgart
Phone
+49 711 123-2240
Fax
+49 711 123-2145
Email
edith.koechel(at)wm.bwl(dot)de
Contact person
Baden-Württembergischer-Handwerkstag e. V.
Department Economic Policy and Statistics
Stefan Schütze
Heilbronner Straße 43
70191 Stuttgart
Phone
+49 711 263709-109
Fax
+49 711 263709-209
Email
sschuetze(at)handwerk-bw(dot)de