Events

Shaping an Ambitious EU Innovation Agenda to accelerate the twin green and digital Transitions 

15 June 2022 
Townhall Europe, Sq. de Meeûs 5, Brussels  

This Vanguard Initiative Policy Conference will facilitate an expert panel discussion to reflect on how the urgent need to accelerate on the green and digital transition calls for an ambitious and comprehensive EU innovation agenda.   

Panel discussions will put in light how the EU Industrial Strategy would benefit from an active EU innovation policy with EU Innovation ecosystems development as the cornerstone, and to what extent a strong EU Internal Market is essential to support interregional collaboration.  

Equally, the policy conference will explore what should be the relevant framework conditions to support the inherent interregional dimension of EU industrial value chains, and in this context, what opportunity the EU Chips Act could represent towards the development of networks of innovation and technology infrastructures.  

The essence of the VI network is to harness the potential of its member regions' innovation ecosystems; member regions are committed to acting collectively on the basis of their Smart Specialisation Strategies to scale up financing and address market failure.  

In this context, the conference will highlight the pivotal role of EU Innovation ecosystem development and its fundamental interregional dimension, how it can be enhanced through an ambitious EU innovation policy, and why it is critical to shaping a successful EU industrial policy in a currently shifting and uncertain geopolitical context. 

The Policy Conference will take place in Brussels, it will be followed by a networking reception.
Only physical participation will be possible.

Please register here by 10 June.

Should you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Speakers

Welcome and Introduction:

Eddy van Hijum, Regional Minister for Overijssel, East Netherlands, VI Chair  

Keynotes speakers:

Nicola De Michelis, Director, DG Regional and Urban Policy, Smart and Sustainable Growth and Programme Implementation IV (REGIO.G) 
Doris Schroecker, Head of Unit, DG Research and Innovation, Industrial Research, Innovation Investment Agendas (RTD.E.1) 

Discussion panellists: 

Cristina Oyon, Director of Technology, Innovation and Sustainability at SPRI, Member of the EU Industrial Forum Expert Group, Basque Country, Spain  
Muriel Attané, Secretary General of EARTO – European Association of Research and Technology Organisations 
Željko Pazin, Executive Director, EFFRA – European Factories of the Future Research Association