The "Cluster Initiative Bodensee (CLIB)" was created in the year 2000 at the suggestion of district administrator Frank Hämmerle. The basic concept was to strengthen and further develop the business region of Lake Constance - to deploy a cross-border location marketing initiative and to build a regional marketing body. This body, named Bodensee Standort Marketing GmbH (Region of Lake Constance Location Marketing), was founded in December of 2000.
Marketing needs a product and a target group. Without these, no successful strategy can be derived. This particularly applies to regional location marketing. The "product" is the business location. And yet this is far too abstract for creating statements and informative treatments that can be communicated. It is therefore necessary to more closely define the product, its specific characteristics and its attractiveness for certain target groups.
For this analysis, a working group was formed under the direction of Dr. Gerd Springe, former chairman of ALUSUISSE in Singen. Further members include representatives of the local economy, chambers and communes, and business promotion authorities from the district of Constance. In their analyses, the group focused on the cluster approach.
A business cluster is a regional concentration of firms who take over various functions in the value chain. This not only includes the core area of production but also supply, delivery, marketing, logistics and other services. Also included in this are research and development, training and education, and the cluster-specific employment opportunities.
Clusters are, however, a lot more than just a grouping of functions. A true cluster comprises networks between the actors and direct interactions and cooperation between them. When such vertical and horizontal networks exist, then – as the empirical assumption goes – specific, regional strengths arise and manifest themselves in innovative power, successful innovation and economic dynamics. A strong cluster defines a region, and gives it profile.
If the analysis should show that such a networking and cooperation does not yet exist, then it becomes the task of regional development to create and foster such networks so that the potential of the cluster may promoted.
On the basis of this concept, BSM has first examined the economic structure of the region. In a second step, the 10 most promising clusters were defined. They are presented in the German chart below.
