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title: Presence — ESFI
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organization: European Strategy & Future Infrastructure
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  - level: 2
    text: Institutional and regulatory layer
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  - level: 2
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  - level: 2
    text: Deployment and operational layer
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summary: ESFI operates through Brussels, Vienna and Zadar, connecting mandate, reach and operational proof.
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companion-footer: ESFI — civilization infrastructure · https://esfi.eu
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---

Three nodes

# Presence {#presence}

Overview

ESFI operates across three nodes. Each serves a distinct function. Together they form the institutional architecture that gives ESFI its reach.

Nodes

Brussels

## Institutional and regulatory layer {#institutional-and-regulatory-layer}

Brussels anchors ESFI’s institutional and regulatory mandate. From its AISBL headquarters, ESFI operates where European rules, institutions and operational requirements meet — creating the mandate and operating space in which new European capability can be built. It is where institutional authority is converted into the conditions required for execution.

Vienna

## International and diplomatic layer {#international-and-diplomatic-layer}

Vienna is the international and diplomatic layer. The Vienna node operates toward the international organisations and diplomatic networks that are structurally outside EU frameworks but shape the environment in which European decisions land. ESFI is not only a European actor. Its reach does not route through Brussels alone.

Zadar

## Deployment and operational layer {#deployment-and-operational-layer}

Zadar is the deployment layer. Where the model is built, tested, and proven under real conditions. Designed as the first permanent European-level operational presence in the Adriatic — not a satellite office, but a fully functional institutional environment capable of hosting EU-level programmes and operational capacity development outside the Brussels geography.

Architecture

Brussels provides the mandate.Vienna provides the reach.Zadar provides the proof.

ESFI — civilization infrastructure · https://esfi.eu