In view of a permanent and systematic interaction with the identified stakeholders (see Strategic Basic Research project) a threefold complementary structure is implemented around the project: a Project Advisory Committee, a Utility Reference Group and an Utilisation and Incubation Centre. The different stakeholders represent the relevant policy domains (economy, employment/labour market and innovation) and perspectives (federal, regional, subregional and sectoral). The complementary structure has a double role:

• in process assessment of the project
• development of valorisation trajectories

The Project Advisory Committee includes 9 members in this, notably

• 3 representatives of GOM’s (Regional Development Agencies) (respectively the successor bodies fulfilling the same role in the socio-economic subregional policies) and/or RESOC’s (Regional Economic and Social Committees);
• 3 representatives of Sectoral Funds and/or Sectoral employer organisations;
• 3 representative, representing the targeted policy domains labour market, innovation and employment.

The Project Advisory Committee has a double role:

• in process assessment of the development of the different project activities and providing particular input for on-going activities;
• development of plans and strategies for uptake of the project results beyond the project in the regular activities of these stakeholders on the one hand and in new valorisation trajectories on the other hand.

This will be established to monitor and assess the project during its implementation and in close interaction with the researchers. This Committee will therefore meet on a regular basis, at least three times a year.

The Project Reference Group is aimed at broadening the project’s reference audience, mainly in view of developing more general follow up activities beyond the project and in view of providing input into relevant research programmes. A part from an enlarged representation from the stakeholders that have also representations in the Project Advisory Committee, a broader network of interested parties will be included, notably from the regional and the federal level. Ideally this Reference Group has 99 members and will especially target, on the one hand, representatives from innovation agencies, SERV (Socio-Economic Council Flanders), VDAB (Flemish Employment Office), IWT. On the other hand, representatives from relevant research programmes will be included with the aim of facilitating the valorisation of the project’s outcome in further research programming beyond the project. In this respect relevant stakeholders are: representatives from VIONA (the Flemish Labour Market Research Programme) and their equivalents of research programmes in other policy domains, the several “Steunpunten” (Work and Employment and Entrepreneurship in particular), etc. Finally, this group will include leading researchers from within the “European Research Area”. The Project Reference Group will be established in the first project year and will be consulted in yearly conferences.

The Utility and Incubation Centre will be established in the third project year. The main objective of this Centre is to establish ‘concurrent engineering’ in order to reduce the lead time from empirical and theoretical insights, developed during the project, towards practical applications. It is crucial to set up such required channel for further applications beyond the project, before the project itself is finalised.