Advisory Report 47: Strategic Choices for Flanders
VARIO advocates for a sharper strategic agenda within innovation, economic and entrepreneurship policy, as excessive fragmentation undermines the impact of investments. It is not VARIO’s role to determine strategic domains itself; this responsibility lies with political decision-making. However, the council provides a well‑founded decision-making framework to support the Flemish Government in this task and calls for a portfolio approach in strategic investment decisions. Entrepreneurship and international value chains must be embraced to strengthen economic dynamism.
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Summary
Flanders faces crucial choices to strengthen its competitiveness and innovation capacity in a rapidly changing global context. In the framework of the Flemish Acceleration – the government‑wide initiative launched in February last year to strengthen the productivity and competitiveness of the Flemish economy—VARIO was asked to provide advice on delineating strategic sectors. Over the past year, VARIO consolidated a broad range of insights. In doing so, the council deliberately expanded the concept of strategic sectors, introducing the broader term strategic domains. The profound technological transitions, geopolitical shifts and sustainability challenges demand an integrated approach that goes beyond supporting individual sectors. Strategic ecosystems, key enabling technologies and value chains must also be explicitly taken into account, as they are essential drivers of economic growth, resilience and societal impact.
To substantiate its work, VARIO conducted an analysis of Flemish strengths based on data studies and research by ECOOM‑STORE and the Flemish Indicator Book. To gain additional insight into investment priorities within strategic technologies, VARIO also commissioned a complementary study by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).
Based on these analyses, supplemented with lessons from several European countries, VARIO prepared its advisory report ‘Strategic Choices for Flanders’. In this report, the council argues for a more sharply defined strategic agenda, as excessive fragmentation weakens the impact of investments. VARIO emphasises that it is not its role to determine strategic domains; this responsibility lies with political decision-making. However, the council provides a robust decision‑making framework to support the Flemish Government in making strategic choices, grounded in both quantitative and qualitative data, and supplemented with a series of recommendations as a practical guide:
Recommendation 1: Apply the following decision-making framework for a transparent and well-substantiated selection process
Recommendation 2: Apply a portfolio approach for strategic investments
Recommendation 3: Strengthen economic dynamism by embracing entrepreneurship and international value chains
Recommendation 4: Ensure a well-considered translation of strategic choices into policy