The eighth edition of the international conference “Rethinking Clusters 2025 in New Geopolitical and Sustainability Dynamics: Exploring Emerging Markets” will be held in-person in Itajaí, SC, Brazil.
Conference themes include, but are not limited to:
- The sustainability of places: industrial districts, clusters, regions, and ecosystems
- The transformative power of artificial intelligence, big data, block-chain, and Industry 4.0
- Culture, creativity, and tourism and their effects on sustainable development of places
- Innovation ecosystems and networks: agents’ positions, structure and dynamics
- Smart cities, urban development, peripheries and marginal areas
- Inequality mitigation, social innovation, and wellbeing: organizations, individuals, and communities
- Exploring the dark side of innovation: the unexpected outcomes of the socio-technological progress
- The rise of hostility: how do populism, nationalism, conflicts, and terrorism change economies and places
- Global value chain and sustainable local development
- International Entrepreneurship and innovation in places
- Competitiveness and innovation in industrial districts, clusters, regions, and ecosystems
- Exploring Geopolitical Shifts: Strategies for Enhancing Cluster Resilience and Sustainability
Special Sessions
Coming soon
PhD candidates and young scholars session:
On the first day of the conference (Nov 24th), we reserved a special program exclusively for master’s and PhD candidates and Young Scholars. The Paper Development Workshop (PDW) was designed to support young researchers by providing them with the necessary skills and insights for scientific research. Its main aim is to guide these scholars through the intricate process of writing, submitting, and revising papers for prestigious international journals. The PDW intends to assist young researchers in aligning their work with the latest trends and challenges across various management fields.
This dedicated day offers too, a unique opportunity to participate in a specialized workshop on research methods on cluster analysis. Attendees will engage in discussions about potential advancements in their ongoing projects, exploring cutting-edge methodologies such as experimental research design, social network analysis, natural language processing, and geographical information systems in an informal and interactive setting.
Don’t miss this chance to enhance your research skills and connect with fellow PhD candidates and Young Scholars.
Update – Online PDW Opportunity for PhD Students
We are pleased to announce that the conference will include a dedicated online Paper Development Workshop (PDW) session, exclusively for PhD students. This additional session aims to enable the participation of a small number of students who are unable to travel to Brazil, ensuring broader accessibility while maintaining the in-person character of the event. Selection will be based on the quality of the submitted work and a well-justified need for remote presentation. Interested candidates must select this option at the time of submission, which will be available starting June 15th.
Organizational matters
The conference is scheduled to be held at the Postgraduate Program in Administration at the University of Vale do Itajaí on November 23rd-26th, 2025.
Prospective contributors are encouraged to submit their extended abstracts or full papers to the https://www.rethinkingclusters.org/ starting from June 15th until July 31st, 2025. Extended abstracts should have a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 2,500 words, allowing for the inclusion of figures, tables, and/or images that do not count towards the word limit. Full papers should not exceed 10,000 words, inclusive of the abstract (150 words), tables, references, figure captions, and endnotes. Notification of acceptance for extended abstracts/full papers will be communicated by August 31st, 2025.
Participants interested in organizing special sessions within the conference are invited to contact the local organizers by July 1st, providing a session description and a list of participants. Notification of acceptance for special session proposals will be communicated by July 31st.
Participation fees:
- Participation fee: early registration €150 (before September 15th, 2025) and €200 (from September 16th onwards).
- Reduced fee for PhD students and young scholars (within 5 years from the PhD degree): €100
- Reduced fee for participants from low and middle-income countries (non-OECD1 and non-OECD2 countries as defined by the World Bank): €70
- Reduced fee for students from low and middle-income countries (non-OECD1 and non-OECD2 countries as defined by the World Bank): €35
The participation fee covers the reception (Nov 23rd), as well as coffee breaks.
Registration starts on August 15th, and all pertinent information will be available on the conference website. We look forward to your participation in this intellectually stimulating event.
–>> DOWNLOAD THE CALL FOR PAPERS HERE <<–
–>> DOWNLOAD THE EVENT POSTER HERE <<–
–>> SUBMIT YOUR PAPER HERE! <<–
