How industrial clusters act as engines of national competitiveness

By bringing together industry leaders, governments and communities, the World Economic Forum’s Transitioning Industrial Clusters (TIC) initiative is driving shared economic growth, protecting jobs and reducing emissions worldwide.

Industrial clusters are the cornerstone of economies, generating millions of jobs. At the same time, they account for some of the world’s toughest emissions.

The good news is that they are also where the greatest opportunities for rapid, shared decarbonization lie. With the right framework, these regions can unlock hundreds of millions of tonnes of emissions reductions, protect industrial competitiveness and accelerate national green growth agendas.

Now, from France to South Africa and India to the United States, such industrial regions are adopting comprehensive frameworks that are delivering a successful transition to low-carbon growth through the World Economic Forum’s Transitioning Industrial Clusters (TIC) initiative.

TIC is engaging more than 70 global corporations and public institutions, creating unprecedented collaboration in zones such as ports, energy hubs, industrial complexes, special economic zones and eco-industrial parks.

Launched at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) by the Forum, in collaboration with Accenture and EPRI, the initiative began with four clusters: Humber Cluster and HyNet North West – both in the United Kingdom – Kwinana Industries Council in Australia and the Net Zero Basque Industrial Super Cluster in Spain.

It has since expanded to 40 industrial clusters across 20 countries, becoming the world’s largest community of its kind. Approximate data shows that the 40 signatory clusters collectively represent:

Despite their potential, many industrial clusters face shared headwinds. These challenges often include fragmented or absent governance structures and divergent development strategies, resulting in limited collaboration on shared business opportunities.

While the world’s appetite for clean energy continues to grow, the system that supports it is still disjointed. Gaps between industries and supply chains make large-scale investment difficult, adding financial risk and uncertainty that can undermine a project’s long-term viability.

The TIC initiative was created to help overcome these barriers by bringing together industries, governments and investors around a common plan, through a holistic and technology-neutral approach.

By focusing on the key elements needed to secure funding, regulation and project delivery, it helps clusters move from ideas to action and build a shared vision for transformation.

The initiative is built on the belief that four foundational components are essential for sustainable, cross-sector transformation anywhere in the world:

The initiative delivers tangible outcomes across three levels – policy, cluster and project – showing how collaboration can turn strategic dialogue into real-world change. Each level reinforces the others, creating a scalable model that can be replicated across countries and industries.

By engaging governments early, aligning evidence-based priorities and fostering cross-sector dialogue, the TIC initiative demonstrates how industrial collaboration can influence national policies and economic strategies.

For example, in June 2025, thanks to the collaboration of the Malaysia Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the initiative, Malaysia adopted the TIC framework as a national agenda.

Malaysia hosts key industrial hubs, including Sarawak, Johor, Selangor and Penang, which are active in the petrochemical, data centre, manufacturing, semiconductor and Electrical & Electronics sectors. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the TIC framework as a key driver of green economic growth, skilled employment and carbon reduction.

At the regional level, the TIC initiative helps public and private partners create a shared vision for transformation tailored to local economic priorities.

For example, established clusters in Malaysia, Colombia and Pakistan include a wide range of stakeholders, including companies, port authorities and government accelerators. TIC-facilitated workshops and partnerships have played a major role, helping leaders co-design industrial ecosystems around energy-intensive sectors.

In Colombia, this work has been instrumental in unifying stakeholders around a vision centred on energy security and decarbonization.

In the country’s largest port-based industrial area, the Cartagena Industrial Cluster, partners – including Ecopetrol, Frontera Energy and Promigas – worked together through the TIC framework to endorse a governance model which merged two existing clusters into a joint cluster, with the Cartagena Chamber of Commerce.

Within this structure, senior executives have collaborated to identify potential joint decarbonization projects.

Through ongoing facilitation and collaboration, TIC supports industrial projects to reach bankable, implementation-ready status. This approach can be replicated elsewhere to unlock financing and accelerate the deployment of low-carbon infrastructure worldwide.

One of the first TIC signatory clusters, the UK’s HyNet North West, has reached final investment decision in April 2025 for its CO2 transport and storage system – a milestone that provides a reference point for financing shared energy infrastructure.

Similar momentum is evident in port-anchored clusters such as Antwerp-Bruges and Rotterdam, as well as in emerging low-carbon industrial hubs around the world.

The Forum invites industrial clusters worldwide to join the TIC initiative.

To participate, clusters should submit a signed statement of ambition and meet the following criteria:

By joining, clusters become part of a global community working together to shape a competitive, sustainable and inclusive industrial future.