VARIO contribution to AWTI symposium 'Beyond (the) Horizon’

On the 5th of October VARIO was a guest at the AWTI-symposium ‘Beyond (the) Horizon', where Dutch 'decision makers' gathered to take a step towards Europe together, following up on the AWTI advisory report 'Strategic interplay - Combine the strengths of the Netherlands and the EU for greater research and innovation impact'. Resigning Minister Dijkgraaf called for full national and European commitment to Horizon Europe because we can achieve more together, and argued for a doubling of the budget for research and development in the next European framework program. According to Dijkgraaf, this is necessary to keep up with the US and China in this field.

In sub-session 1 'Connecting the Netherlands and the EU based on a societal challenge: Health', the importance of more cooperation, coordination, nationally and with Europe, and also stable policy was emphasized. The Flemish biotech cluster in Ghent and the central role of VIB were repeatedly cited as examples of a successful coherent practice that is paying off.

In sub-session 2 'How do we achieve a strategic agenda? The process', Danielle Raspoet from VARIO addressed relevant recommendations from the recent advisory report 'Optimal weighing on and responding to EU research, innovation and industrial policy'. “With the Flemish EU platform, Flanders has a unique structure that can potentially provide such a strategic agenda. In practice, strategy formulation is not yet so apparent."