PBL – Problem Based Learning for Companies and Clusters

[EN] Small and medium sized companies (SMEs) assure economic growth in Europe [8]. The crisis and the economic recession have hit SMEs hard in the Europe 28 (EU28) and economic conditions remain difficult. Many of these companies are micro enterprises, few resources and difficulties in facing technological, economic and financial . development particularly learning methods for urban logistics by means of smart strategies and creation of competitive niches - Joint Action Plan development implementation – is not enough researched. together companies and research institutions belonging to the Clusters on middlelong objectives, for planning the development of the skills and qualification of their is an effective way for creating permanent links between the research and the environment. This attitude has several beneficial effects:  Pushes industrial companies to link technological and market development to human qualification with a foresight of future trends.  Can fill the cultural gap between industrial companies and R&D entities, creating between these two worlds.  Stimulates companies to overcome the short-term vision of immediate interest and to with other companies on more ambitious targets. following Figure shows some characteristics of clusters and networks.