The Vanguard Initiative - New growth through smart specialisation

17. 07. 2017

Vanguard is a network of European regions, which is dedicated to advancing Industrial modernisation and Interregional Collaboration in Europe. The Vanguard Initiative new growth through smart specialisation is driven by a political commitment made by regions to use their smart specialisation strategy to boost new growth through bottom-up entrepreneurial innovation and industrial renewal in European priority areas. The political leadership in every partner region has undertaken this commitment by signing the Milan Declaration.

Slovenia is also collaborating in pilot project "Efficient and Sustainable Manufacturing (ESM)", which has a goal to create a network of demo sites and pilot lines at regional level that will enable manufacturing companies in different sectors, including SMEs, to develop and introduce highly efficient and sustainable processes, technologies, systems and methods. The ESM initiative will promote the utilisation of enabling technologies within the framework of the following two main domains:

• Manufacturing efficiency, with the goals of increasing throughput, quality and reducing costs;
• Environmental and social sustainability of manufacturing, with the goals of reducing energy, materials consumption and emissions, and increasing the inclusion of humans in the factories.

Which are the benefits in participating to Vanguard?

AFIL, technology Cluster from one of the leading Vanguard regions, Lombardy, had captured value from the participation to Vanguard Initiative:

- a more concrete role as counterpart of the Regional government,
- fostered its growth, exposing it to the right ecosystem of innovation,
- a more close contact towards interregional networks - easier access to EU projects,
- possibility to align the Regional and European roadmaps for innovation - possibility to influence.