In Europe, various programmes for demand-oriented funding with different objectives, orientations and designs have been implemented in recent years. The EU Commission also made reference to demand-driven funding as part of the guidelines published in January and included specifications for connectivity and social vouchers. However, vouchers to promote expansion activities, which have now been used in the UK for ten years, are not included in the Commission's system.
This is surprising in view of the fact that expansion vouchers based on the British model have led to more convincing results than connectivity vouchers, both from a conceptual economic perspective and in terms of market results. While connectivity vouchers are associated with the risk of deadweight effects and market distortions, expansion vouchers can increase funding efficiency compared to supply-oriented funding. Social vouchers appear to be a suitable means of maintaining or restoring equal opportunities across social boundaries where this is deemed necessary.
In view of the specifics of the German market, expansion vouchers also appear to be clearly superior to connectivity vouchers. However, their integration into the German funding landscape would require an upstream demarcation between areas with supply-oriented, demand-oriented and no funding entitlement, which would represent a paradigm shift and therefore appears unlikely.
