Vanguard Initiative

LGCA Cluster is an associate member of Vanguard Initiative Asbl.

The Vanguard Initiative is a European network that aims to contribute to the revitalization of European industry on the basis of the smart specialization strategy. Born in 2013 at the proposal of Flanders, now it includes the 30 most developed regions of Europe.

The objective of Vanguard is to use the smart specialization strategy for growth through bottom-up entrepreneurial innovations and industrial renewal in priority European sectors. This orientation can be applied to develop a new multi-level support mechanism that can be used by all regions. In particular:

  • Accelerate investments by referring to what indicated by the S3 for co-investments;
  • Define the bottom-up Worl Classcluster to be added to the H2020 program, conceived in a top down way;
  • Demonstrate the validity of the principle with pilot initiatives;
  • Operate at all levels to finance industry-driven VI clusters.

The LGCA Cluster coordinates the Pilot “Bio-economy – Interregional cooperation on innovative use of non-food Biomass” with the Lombardy Region.

Currently the Pilot has 3 active demo cases:

  1. Bio-aromatics: support the diffusion of biomass aromatics on the market through the development of the process scaling up process and the identification of inter-regional value chains. Leading region: Flanders
  2. Lignocellulose refinery: promote the development of new value chains from lingo-cellulosic raw materials from bio-refineries for a quick and intelligent translation of value chains from one region to another. Leading region: Zuid Holland
  3. Liquefied bio-methane: support the development of regional value chains for the production and use of liquefied bio-methane for the heavy transport sector, involving them within a single coherent European project. Leading region: Emilia-Romagna

Vanguard Coordinator for the LGCA Cluster:

Ilaria Re, ilaria.re@chimicaverdelombardia.it