Project in brief Cooperation in the Textile and Clothing (T/C) sector is part of a wider macroeconomic context characterized by a strong industrial restructuring in Europe, the delocalization of the production in lower costs countries or fiscal friendly locations and by subcontracting agreements with Southern Mediterranean companies. This cooperation model, implemented to counteract the aggressive price competition of China and other emerging countries, has produced unwanted consequences: waste and loss of technical skills and competences in the Northern Mediterranean regions, low entrepreneurship in the Southern regions and a partial inability to respond to new competitive challenges. With an innovative approach looking at emphasizing the role of entrepreneurship for the international development of clusters and SMEs, TEX-MED Clusters project aims to foster the replacement of the old model with a more advanced one based on multi-localization + co-contracting, in order to start a co-development process to upgrade the entire textile sector in terms of competence, entrepreneurship, innovation and international competitiveness. Specific objectives • To increase the quantity of links, partnerships and cooperation initiatives among the Textile and Clothing (T/C) industries of the Mediterranean basin • To speed up an industry evolution toward an integrated T/C Med system to replace the old delocalization + subcontracting model with a more advanced and balanced multi-localisation + co-contracting model Expected Results: • A shared vision defined and a long-term strategy set up for the development of the Mediterranean T/C industry • Cooperation projects implemented among clusters, especially on matters regarding innovation • Cooperation initiatives between SMEs started up in order to enhance the overall and individual competition of the Mediterranean T/C industry vis-à-vis the international external cooperation