Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

On 27 March 2024, VARIO received a request for advice from minister Brouns on the green paper ‘The future of Flemish cluster policy’. VARIO states that spearhead clusters are a driver for economic valorization and for addressing societal challenges through R&D&I, and calls for them to be used more explicitly within transformative innovation policy. VARIO also asks to provide the necessary financial support for the renewed assignment of the spearhead clusters and to focus on a partnership role between the spearhead clusters and VLAIO. Finally, VARIO believes the time is right for an open call on new strategic themes and is in favor of a bottom-up approach.

The world is facing urgent societal challenges that require fundamental change, such as the climate crisis or the nitrogen crisis. In its Advisory Report 35, VARIO focuses on Transformative Innovation Policy which plays a crucial role in system change or system transitions. Consider, for instance, the transition to a digital and circular agri-food system or to a circular economy. Based on the AWTI-VARIO country review (December 2023) and a background report, VARIO developed a participatory governance framework for Transformative Innovation Policy, with 8 recommendations, that creates proximity with local innovation dynamics. Here, continuous exchange of information between the policy cycle and an external experimental space is essential, e.g. to be able to make targeted adjustments to regulations or other policy levers, in order to create system-level impact and to accelerate (radical) innovations.