Oceania Chair Dr Mirjana Prica and Secretariat Tanya Wilkins made the annual trip to join the global gathering of the TCI Network. Board Director Luis Oliver Torres was the perfect host, welcoming visitors from over 30 countries to his home town of Chihuahua.

Day One saw us experience immersion tours in one of three key industry areas in Chihuahua

🔹 Advanced manufacturing
🔹 Smart agroindustry
🔹 Enabling technologies

The advanced manufacturing tour was organised by the Aerospace Cluster and the Auto Cluster. It took Tanya through the Bell Helicopters Assembly Plant and the Jabin contract manufacturing firm. Both key employers in the region, their US parent companies benefited from the lower production costs and proximity to the US border.

The smart agronomy tour was organised by the Chihuahua Agroindustrial Cluster where Mirjana got the opportunity to see a large meat manufacturing company and Innovak Global who develop and market biorational products and differentiated technologies in agriculture. They also got to drink some wines from Chihuahua, a growing industry for the country. The reds were excellent!

At the official opening ceremony, a great crowd attended to hear from the pioneers of the TCI Network who met in Chihuahua 28 years earlier. We were able to hear how it all came about from Eric Hansen, Michael Enright, Alonso Ramos, Leonel Guerra, Bob Breault and others.

Day Two highlight was the ineffable Mariana Mazzacato, an economist with UCL, and global advisor on mission-led challenges. She passionately emphasised that missions are bold, measurable goals that address societal challenges, such as climate change, public health, or inequality. She argued that missions should drive innovation and be oriented toward solving complex problems through cross-sector collaboration, involving both public and private actors.

Missions require clear goals, citizen engagement, risk-taking, and long-term public investment. They should focus not only on technological solutions but also on transforming systems, like health or mobility, to achieve inclusive growth. Mazzucato stated that missions can reorient economies to be more purpose-driven, fostering sustainable innovation and equitable development.

In the following panel discussion with Mariana, our own Mirjana (M1 and M2) asked how clusters are relevant to this. Mariana highlighted the recipe for a successful mission but was unclear how clusters supported collaborative and inclusive futures. Mirjana highlighted that there is a link and /or similarities between missions and clusters and how they both are synergistic and can build inclusive and sustainable collaborative ecosystems. They are:

Burning platform to create the sense of urgency around a challenge. This burning platform is used to galvanise stakeholders (the actors) so they work together rather than work in isolation to address the challenge.
Leadership is essential to navigate across the ecosystem and with different actors to coordinate activities and stakeholders towards addressing the challenge.
Collaboration is vital to ensure the team work as one and build the collective effort to address the challenge that is huge and hard for individuals to resolve on their own

Missions are a great idea, and there is a lot of talk on the theory, so it is essential to convert this talk into action. This is where clusters can help. For over 30 years, clusters have been delivering value. There are many examples and case studies of delivering impact. These should be used to help shape the conversation on the grand challenges (as defined by a mission they cut across stakeholders, sectors, geographies etc). As clusters are already working on components of the grand challenge or even on a grand challenge, clusters can help to develop the grand challenges or become part of delivering the missions.

Day Two was focused on AI Keynote speaker Rebecca Hwang asked the question ‘are you irreplaceable in the era of AI’ and it certainly got the delegates thinking. With generative AI adoption exceeding rates of any other technology, organisations need to develop their strategies. Clusters can guide their members in this area and leverage AI for their own operations.

Rebecca outlined the shift from labour-intensive work to "human-expansive" growth—think bigger networks, hyper-collaboration, and cultures that attract top talent. Some key points include:

💫 AI is a game-changer for innovation and productivity: fewer resources (time, money) delivering better results.

💫 Don’t miss the big picture: Are you perfecting the horse carriage while others are building the car?

💫 Adopting AI is essential not only for keeping up with industry transformations but also for taking the lead.

LATAM clusters

On the final day, we had an excellent cluster panel including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Panama and the CEPAL. Plenty of highlights including Mexico's progress in several key areas:

o The growth of critical mass within the Mexican cluster ecosystem,

o The adoption of a Cluster Policy by the Secretariat of Economical Development, particularly in Puebla, and

o The integration of global value chains.

Mexico has made solid strides in advancing clusters within the country's strategic sectors. A prime example is the State of Puebla, where 21 clusters were established in collaboration with the Secretariat of Economical and Sustainable Development since 2021. As of February 27, 2024, clusters are officially recognised as the government's social arm for the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies related to economic development.

Significant challenges were discussed, including the consolidation of a strategic approach to clusters, strengthening intercluster collaboration not only in Colombia, but throughout Latin America. All these stories and examples continue to document the positive impact of cluster efforts on employment, productivity, and business growth.

TCI Network 27th global conference, Chihuahua Mexico