ERRIN began as an informal network in 2001, which eventually led to the FP6 project ‘Regions of Knowledge’ in 2004.

Under the guidance of ERRIN director Charlotte Andersdotter, the network was officially established with its name, an organisational structure and paying members. 

The first ERRIN Working Groups were established and began to pave the way for ERRIN’s bottom-up and member-driven approach – something that continues today.

‘Over the years, ERRIN’s working groups have made friends and these friends can be found everywhere in Brussels from the Commission to the Committee of the Regions to the Parliament’ - Longstanding WG leader and Management Board member Martina Hilger (Free Hanseatic City of Bremen).

With Claus Schultz as the ERRIN Director, the network began to engage with European projects as a way to support members and further the network’s reputation among the European institutions and beyond.

Richard Tuffs became ERRIN director in 2010 and developed the network’s reputation and increased its membership. He also further enhanced the network’s project development activities through brokerage events and expanded ERRIN’s policy work.

The ERRIN community has been steadily growing and reached 100 in 2011.

‘We very much value collaboration with other regions and the opportunity to interact with representatives of the European Commission because for single regions it might be complicated to achieve this on their own and raise their profile in Brussels’ - Monika Vrbková, South Moravian Region, ERRIN’s 100th member.

During the early 2010s, ERRIN began to increase its collaboration with DG Research and Innovation, through initiatives such as the Week of Innovative Regions in Europe (WIRE) and Knowledge Exchange Platform (KEP)

Pirita Lindholm became ERRIN Director in 2017 and established a new Management Board taskforce in 2018 to work on ERRIN’s strategic development. The ERRIN missions were revamped, the Working Groups were clustered according to the structure of the upcoming Horizon Europe programme and the secretariat continued to enlarge and develop.

ERRIN began to significantly intensify its policy work relating to the then-upcoming R&I programme, Horizon Europe. Through this work, the perspective of place-based research and innovation ecosystems was anchored in the R&I policy discussions. The first ecosystem workshop organised with the European Commission kickstarted this effort.

In 2019, ERRIN updated its project facilitation process in order to increase project opportunities for members. The process also ensured that proposals ERRIN joined, seven of which were successful as a result, were strategically relevant to ERRIN’s missions. In 2020 five of these projects, RIPEET, CHARTER, RECIPROCITY, Be.CULTOUR and MOSAIC were approved.

ERRIN has taken an active role in shaping various EU level initiatives and ensuring that local and regional innovation ecosystems are at their centre. The Horizon Europe Missions provide a good example of that work.

As ERRIN moves into its third decade, it’s focusing more than ever on increasing diversity and deepening engagement in R&I. Looking within and beyond the network, we take steps to support the unlocking of full R&I potential of regional ecosystems across all geographic areas and stakeholder groups.