Geological Surveys are, as their name suggests, more normally engaged with projects such as mapping and monitoring, and in our own case, major initiatives such as marine mapping for INFOMAR and national programmes such as Tellus. However the global economic crisis of 2008/2009 and its manifestation in the Irish economic downturn, led to a challenge to see how Geological Survey Ireland might assist in national recovery.

This led to the creation of Geoscience Ireland (GI), which has proved to be an effective and enduring resource in supporting Irish companies to develop and grow their businesses by expanding into international markets.

There were many lessons learned from the development of GI; building trust between competing companies; extending the collaboration between government, state agencies and the private sector; strong political and administrative support and the rigorous pursuit of opportunities by providing accurate market intelligence and contacts are among the skills and competencies grown in GI.

This document was developed as an easy to follow "How To" guide for business cluster formation and maintenance; capturing many of the GI development experiences to date, which can be transferred to other sectors and to inform the further development of cluster policy in Ireland.

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