If there is one word for a red thread in my professional life it is: international. Connecting, collaborating, networking and developing business across countries and continents, cultures, economies. Out of 19 years of work in cluster development, management or cluster policy ar regional, national, European level, 13 of them were marked by the development and implementation in various roles of three phases of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform launched by the European Commission. My broad experience of over 30 years in international affairs, projects, communication and European programmes, serves for the development and management of EU projects, support for international cooperation in the field of innovation and clustering, training and international networking and communication.Gender balance and competitiveness in the cluster area is a theme high on my agenda. My activities also include speaking and moderating at international conferences and workshops, with a large record of presentations and moderations. I am evaluator in the COSME programme and a certified ESCA Cluster Benchmarking Expert and Gold Label Assessor.I graduated magna cum laude from the Academy of Economic Sciences in Bucharest and worked both for multinational companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi Centrade in Bucharest/RO and Silhouette International in Linz/AT (as area manager for South-East Asia and South Europe) and for small companies and public administration bodies.I feel myself being a European (Austrian citizen, born in Romania, lived in Spain and Albania), I speak 6 languages (Romanian, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish) and I am member of several international networks (having been one of the founders of AIESEC in Romania and its first National Committee President), TCI Network, EWMD. In April 2012 I set up the Cluster Women European Network (ClusterWene), an entrepreneurial initiative to strengthen women’s position in the cluster community. Since September 2019, I am member of the European Cluster Expert Group of the European Commission that shall provide recommendations, advice, and expertise to the Commission on how to better use clusters as a strategic tool of industrial policy, interregional collaboration and for integrating SMEs into EU and global value chains. Since October 2019 I am National Representative of Austria in the International Board of the EWMD Network.