By Andrew Farquhar
The Collaborate Seafood Processing Facility project (Collaborative Project) being undertaken by the Seafood CRC and Cleanseas Tuna Ltd was investigating the feasibility of building a best proactive collaborative processing cluster in Australia in order to deliver a seafood basket to customers from a single, efficient and productive facility. As part of the Collaborative Project, various case studies were undertaken to demonstrate to participants the possible outcomes and benefits of developing a collaborative cluster. These case studies included the seafood cluster in Grimsby in the UK and the tulip industry in the Netherlands.
A video interview was taken with a representative of the Grimsby cluster at a seafood fair in Brussels. Key learning from the approach taken in Grimsby showed the importance of being industry led, having a common vision and establishing a driver for change and innovation.
At the Brussels Seafood Fair, many new and innovative products were displayed which demonstrated the potential for value added processing within Australia. In addition, conversations with various processors and marketers also underlined the potential for value adding within the industry from a collaborative cluster in Australia. Andrew also visited the tulip farming, processing and marketing collaborative cluster in the Netherlands. Key knowledge was gained from this visit on the subjects of marketing, logistics, innovation and management.
The last visit was to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France on the English Channel. This seafood collaborative cluster processes 360,000 tonnes of seafood every year; double that of Australia's total seafood production. Logistics companies, technical education, research establishments, a market and processors were all co-located in the collaborative cluster and knowledge was gained from this visit regarding government support and collaboration.
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Industry Bursary 
