Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
VARIO advises the Flemish Government and the Flemish Parliament on its science, innovation and entrepreneurship policy.
Silvia Lenaerts and Dieter Deforce join VARIO
On 5 September, the Flemish Government decided on a new composition of VARIO. Silvia Lenaerts, Rector Magnificus of Eindhoven University of Technology, replaces Stephanie De Bruyne, who resigned her mandate due to incompatibility with her new position at ING Belgium. Dieter Deforce, head of the Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Ghent University, was appointed to fill the last vacant position. This means that VARIO is once again complete with 10 members, following a previous reorganisation in March.
Advisory report 44: Draft note of the Flanders Spatial Policy Plan
VARIO was asked for advice on the draft note for the Flanders Spatial Policy Plan. In its recommendations, VARIO focused primarily on concerns relating to innovation. Spatial policy has a major impact on this, but this is not always given sufficient consideration.
Advisory Report 43: Climate Leap for Industry – Program Note 2026–2030
VARIO believes that Climate Leap for Industry is the right vehicle to address the dual objective: transitioning the energy-intensive industry towards carbon neutrality, without compromising competitiveness. However, time is of the essence, and this requires more far-reaching actions at a much faster pace than the proposed approach.
Other recent reports
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Advisory report 42: Responding strategically to the volatile situation for researchers in the USA
Advisory report 41: AI in the workplace
In response to the request for advice from the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment, and Pensions of the Federal Chamber of Representatives regarding the draft resolution for a proactive policy and a coherent strategy on the use of algorithms, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, VARIO formulates a number of recommendations.
Advisory Report 40: Towards a level playing field for all business forms in function of greater societal impact
Businesses at the intersection of financial profit and societal impact face an unequal playing field on various fronts. Much of this is linked to the uneven playing field for the different (legal) business forms. VARIO makes a series of recommendations to remedy this.
