The CIAC marketplace

Josep Nadal, CIAC Cluster Manager, who participated remotely, explained that the initiative to create what we decided to call the marketplace, created in 2020 and which became relevant in the Covid period," was the response that we developed as a sophisticated way of giving visibility to the needs of our members, and one more way to beneficially translate the fee for belonging to the cluster. Entities such as the automotive clusters, as we grow in size, face the challenge of how to generate space for each of the companies or entities belonging to the cluster and manage in the best possible way the volume of information that all of them generate, always highlighting the most interesting”.

“Under this premise, we created an initial space for cluster initiatives, whether they were services or conferences, but, in order to define an equal space for all our associates, we decided not to promote individual activities of our partners, thus avoiding problems of mass mailings and shipments, taking into account that we bring together about 200 partners. Within our internet portal, we set up a bulletin board, so that your associates such as universities, technology centres, engineering or consulting firms that are dedicated to training, as well as a catalogue of products from industrial companies, to enhance the possibilities of offer and purchase of products within the framework of the marketplace between member companies of the cluster. This has made it possible to publicise acquisition and service possibilities among industrial companies with the possibility of giving additional uses to high-value machines that are not always 100% operational in a company, thus improving amortisation periods. It has also been opened to job boards with the possibility for companies to publish advertisements in which they are looking for professional profiles or certain types of machinery or subcontracting”.

“We generate two types of activities. One with set dates such as webinars, training courses, information sessions and product presentations that were reflected in a calendar, and secondly, options available on demand. The calendar varies, using a colour code, the activity of the cluster from that of each one of the associates. It was established that when one of our partners entered information, it would be sent to the entire associate base of the cluster, which generates a very powerful dissemination impact to 78,000 users of our platform and 24,000 contacts. This has allowed our partners to include information about what they are promoting and the organic initiatives of the cluster were differentiated from those outside our entity in the emails”.

“The implementation was a remarkable job. We have enabled a form with mandatory fields such as company activity and initiative type, which is easier for our partners, who are already directly registered on our platform. You can include the contact of the specific person who is piloting the project. The contents are articulated in brief descriptive texts, images, videos, etc. Mailings are made through the only channel of the cluster and the recipients have the possibility of reporting them if there is inappropriate content or of excessive or abusive frequency”.

“We have been implementing proactive measures to refine this tool and the use made of it. Initially, the services or products had a standard image, but soon we were asked by companies that they wanted to customize the reference image that appears in the ad, so we ensured that our partners had the possibility to promote their activities. To our surprise, many companies that had never been interested in the cluster were interested in the marketplace, characterised by a more commercial dynamic, different from our work in industrial projects. These non-associated companies pay an annual fee for interacting in the marketplace, using this environment for their commercial projection. In this way, we find a balance between the different needs of the participants. This has enriched the cluster respecting the premise that partners do not make direct promotions, but to do so clearly and transparently as a search engine”.

“In two years of activity, companies are making very responsible use of the tool, both in terms of the content they host in it and the frequency of shipments. The cluster is in charge of monitoring the activity of the marketplace, which has already served as a model for other entities, without having received any complaints to date, ensuring that responsible use is made”.

Presentation published in AutoRevista 2.375 issue

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