2nd National Cluster Conference

Trnava, 11.-12.3.2024

ICE participated in the 2nd National Cluster Conference, which welcomed almost 40 cluster organisations from different sectors of Slovakia. We presented our project „Slovak Innovation Cluster for Defence and Security“, which we worked on the last year. The project was supported by the subsidy programme of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic to map the conditions and possibilities for the establishment of the first innovation cluster in the field of defence in Slovakia. International practice shows that clustering is an increasingly used form of intensifying cooperation between academia, industry, and government institutions within a country’s defence innovation ecosystem. Representatives of other cluster organisations and a foreign delegation from South Korea were interested in the new and innovative approach and ICE’s project in terms of strengthening the so-called culture of cooperation also in the defence innovation ecosystem in Slovakia. We also pointed out the macroeconomic benefits of establishing a cluster in the field of defence and security. The data show that investments in the defence sector are also worthwhile from a macroeconomic point of view due to the multiplication of significant benefits for other sectors and bringing finance to the GDP of the state. We have discussed this as well as other things. We thank the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency for the invitation.