Digital information event on the Vanguard initiative and its pilot projects
On May 22nd, around 20 participants from the NRW-Cluster community and other interested parties came together in the digital exchange format NRW-Clusters meet… for the Vanguard initiative to find out more about the project and their pilot projects in the areas of artificial intelligence and nanotechnology . The Vanguard Initiative is an association of 38 regions in Europe (including North Rhine-Westphalia) that focuses on promoting industrial innovation and building European value chains based on regional “smart specialization strategies”.
The initiative promotes interregional collaboration and carries pilot projects that offer clusters, science parks, research institutes and universities the special opportunity to network with like-minded partners in European regions, with the common goal of strengthening industrial innovation in Europe. The emerging interregional partnerships help to leverage complementarities, take projects from the demonstration and pilot phase to further development and commercial use (beyond TRL 5), and open and share specialized infrastructure. In addition, they provide access to a larger community of end users, pool best practices and enable non-technological problems to be addressed together. The actors involved in the pilot projects receive access to exclusive networks of pilot plants and demonstration sites. You can work with partners to accelerate the market introduction of advanced technologies and processes in areas of strategic importance for European industry.
The Vanguard initiative currently includes a portfolio of 8 pilot projects in a wide range of technology fields, from bioeconomy to efficient and sustainable production, 3D printing, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, personalized medicine and hydrogen technologies. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, together with the Spanish region of Navarra, is co-lead of the pilot “Nano-/Microsystems and High-Tech Materials for Industrial Transformation”, represented by the North Rhine-Westphalian technology cluster NMWP.NRW, whose relaunch in July this year pending.
The Vanguard Initiative advances networking via the VI Gateway Here, companies and other innovation intermediaries can quickly and easily create a profile in order to get in touch with the pilot project that is relevant to them. You can join ongoing pilots at any time.
Source: NRW.innovativ
