Vanguard initiative
About the initiative
The Vanguard Initiative for New Growth through Smart Specialisation is an organisation bringing together 37 innovative regions from Europe that aim to develop modern industries through interregional economic cooperation in areas of smart specialisation. Małopolska is the only region from Poland involved in the activities of the Vanguard Initiative. The initiative was launched with the participation of Małopolska and has functioned as an informal agreement of selected regions from the European Union since November 2013. Since 10 July 2017, the Initiative has changed its legal form and has been registered as a non-profit association under Belgian law with its headquarters in Brussels.
Małopolska is one of the 10 initiators of the Vanguard Initiative, and the only region from Poland in the VI and the first from Central and Eastern Europe.
In practice, the Vanguard Initiative (hereinafter referred to as VI) assists companies and clusters to develop technologies, which are at low levels of technology readiness (TRL), to test these technologies for practical applications, in order to eventually enable their implementation. By collaborating through VI, interested companies can minimise the cost of testing and certifying a specific technology, confirm its suitability for specific applications and establish new international business collaborations. VI facilitates cooperation in bringing these technologies to the level of commercialisation, i.e. TRL8-9, and seeks to overcome possible barriers to funding such ventures in close cooperation with the European Commission.
Benefits for entrepreneurs and clusters from Małopolska from cooperation within the Vanguard Initiative:
- the possibility of cooperation of Małopolska entrepreneurs and clusters in the framework of Pilot Projects and Demonstration Activities of the Initiative, including building partnerships enabling the use of EU funds,
- possibility to reduce costs of testing and certifying new technologies,
- access to technologies and solutions developed by VI members,
- promoting and developing their own technologies, as well as tapping into new European markets,
- proposing their own Pilot Projects and Demonstration Activities (companies and clusters from Małopolska have the possibility to develop their own ideas within the framework of international sectoral cooperation through Pilot Projects and Demonstration Activities proposed by them),
- participation in conferences, meetings bringing together partners in different countries to build new pan-European partnerships,
- the opportunity to develop industry within strong clusters;
Benefits for Małopolska from cooperation within the framework of the Vanguard Initiative:
- The Vanguard Initiative expresses opinions on future industrial policy, the Horizon Europe programme, Interreg, the Cohesion Policy and towards public-private partnerships, which is an important voice in shaping the policy and agenda of the European Union,
- trend-setting inter-regional cooperation in the area of smart specialisations (the Vanguard Initiative is pointed out by the European Commission as an example of exemplary inter-regional cooperation in areas of smart specialisations),
- the opportunity to benefit from the experience of regions that have been cooperating with the European Commission for a long time and have developed effective strategies and ways of implementing actions that are important to them,
- the possibility of cooperation of Małopolska-based enterprises, clusters with partners from regions involved in the Vanguard Initiative activities within the framework of Pilot Projects and Demonstration Measures of the Initiative, including building partnerships enabling the use of EU funds,
- prestige - the presence of Małopolska and its entities among the most innovative regions, leaders in the EU.
VI pilot and demo case projects and technologies under development:
- High-end manufacturing through 3D printing (3D printing: repairs, collaborative robots, integrated electronics, large parts, healthcare, built environment, hybrid components, maintenance, incremental-connection);
- Advanced Manufacturing for Energy-Related Applications in Harsh Environments (ADMA for Energy-Related Applications in Harsh Environments: offshore energy transfer (PURE), large-scale component bonding, new component manufacturing methods, corrosion of offshore and underwater infrastructure, sensing and remote monitoring technologies);
- Efficient and sustainable manufacturing (efficient sustainable manufacturing: de- and remanufacturing, polymer-based functional products, digital transformation, energy and resource flexible factory-EFREFO);
- Bioeconomy (lignocellulose biorefinery, bioaromatics, liquefied bio-methane (LNG Blue Corridor), biopolymers);
- New nanotechnology-enabled products (new nanotechnology-enabled products: nanowires for ICT and energy applications, nanoactive microsystem for bioanalysis (NeMs4Bio), electronics printed on 3D metal objects (Shapetronics), structural health on composite materials, MEMs for nanoanalytics, flip-chip assembly for Indian PIC phosphors),
- Artificial Intelligence (from 2021),
- Intelligent Health (from 2021).
Action VI in 2021:
- Continue to stimulate the development of innovation between member regions and remain at the forefront as an organisation committed to innovation in the EU,
- emphasis on stimulating innovation so that regional innovation ecosystems made up of, inter alia, SMEs, companies, research institutes, governments and social organisations, can recover as quickly as possible from the pandemic caused by Covid 19 and create together a resilient green and digital ecosystem,
- become a trusted partner for the European institutions,
- to be involved in industrial policy-making from a regional perspective, and to build long-term relationships at all levels with the European institutions,
- roadmap and initiate debate on a long-term vision for VI as a regional network in Europe,
- to follow up on the funding of innovation,
exploring the possibilities of using European regional funds on a cross-regional basis to help SMEs to pioneer and grow beyond borders; - Establish a network of the European Digital Innovation Centre (EDIH) within the VI,
- strengthening relationships with stakeholders from industry, academia and government,
- launching two new pilots.
