THE building blocks are in place for Dunedin business clusters to begin specialising and making the most of their collaboration, a visiting consultant says.
And the city's business sector is well served by the Dunedin City Council's economic development unit, which is ahead of the pack in New Zealand, international consultant in industry collaboration, Ifor Ffowcs-Williams, said yesterday.
Mr Ffowcs-Williams, who is based in Nelson, is in the city to review industry clusters and spark some new ones, five years after his last visit to talk about the subject.
He spent yesterday providing a session for Mayor Peter Chin and city councillors, and giving workshops for tourism, engineering, forestry, information technology, tertiary education, film and Maori groups.
His message was that around the world there was more and more engagement in business clusters, which involved businesses setting aside competitive- ness to work together for mutual benefit.
That tactic was one they could use in projects like the Forsyth Barr Stadium, where businesses that were too small to take up subcontracts for such a large project could pool their resources to do so.
It was particularly important during a recession, and allowed governments to better target the investment they were making in industry.
"It could be in training, it could be in expert support," he said, but it allowed government and local authorities to hear what the needs of firms were.
One question being asked was what was next for Dunedin, and the answer was that the building blocks were in place with clusters set up.
"It's really starting to link those clusters," Mr Ffowcs-Williams said.
"What came through too, today, was the opportunity for a more pro-active role for the university, and the importance of entrepreneurship."
There had been progress in Dunedin since his last visit, with engineering clusters working on oil and gas projects, and health care products coming through.
The council's visitor strategy was another successful initiative.
The economic development unit was another positive initiative for the city, having remained in place even when funding had not been available from the Government, Mr Ffowcs-Williams said.
