What We Do
Policy Influencing
Thanks to its place-based approach, the Vanguard Initiative has a wide national, EU, and international outreach. Through the activities of its pilots, the Vanguard Initiative has proven to be a successful network, leading by example in interregional collaboration based on smart specialisation. For almost 10 years, Vanguard regions have been committed to supporting innovation and technology uptake at the EU level, and they are constantly reflecting on how to fund such activities as well as how to join forces to support their roll-out. This is closely connected to the work of the European Commission’s Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms (S3P). The Vanguard Initiative is, in this perspective, advocating for stronger commitment to enable effective synergies between EU funding tools and instruments, with regional and national funding.
Vanguard active in ‘Technology Infrastructures’ debate during ENoLL conference
The European Commission is reviving the debate on “technology infrastructures”: their definition and possibly their financing.
VI at the first meeting of the I3 expert group
The first meeting of the Expert Group which will assist the EC in the I3 work programme preparation took place on the 15th of June.
The VI is a Member of the Expert Group on Interregional Innovation Investments (I3)
The Vanguard Initiative, represented by the Vanguard Pilot Monitoring Task Group lead Wim de Kinderen, has been selected by the European Commission as a member of
VI and EARTO jointly published a short paper providing complementary insights on the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3)
The Vanguard Initiative together with EARTO issued a short paper on the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) to provide some complementary insights for the d
I3 : the VI continues its efforts for the co-design of the instrument
The Commission published the summary of the public consultation on I3 in March 2021.
The Commission published the I3 stakeholder consultation results
The European Commission published the report on the assessment of the stakeholder consultation on the new Interregional Innovation Investment Initiative (I3) proposed under the ERDF regulation for
Joint contribution - Public consultation on Interregional Innovation Investments
The signatories strongly supports the Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument and welcomes the agreement from the Council to create this new tool under the ERDF, while regretting the downsi
Public consultation - Contribution to GBER review
Contribution to the second public consultation on the targeted review of the GBER: extended scope for national funds to be combined with certain Union programmes.
Joint paper ‘EU Interregional Innovation Investments : towards EU economic recovery
EU Interregional Innovation Investments : towards EU economic recovery
Position paper - The EU Industrial Strategy – Regional ecosystems and collaboration as drivers for the recovery
The European Commission have published it’s new Industrial Strategy on the 10th of March, alongside with a new SME strategy, and a new circular economy action plan.
Non paper on the Industrial policy - The Vanguard Initiative1 calls for a strong regional dimension in the new EU industrial
In a new non-paper, the Vanguard Initiative calls for the adoption of an ambitious EU industrial Strategy and expresses full support of the European Commission’s ambition to adopt a renewed EU indu
Position Paper - Regions and future EU policies for Growth and Investment
The full position paper of the Vanguard Initiative on "Regions and future EU policies for Growth and Investment" can be downloaded in PDF format in attachment.