Mobilising territorial defence and security ecosystems

Mobilising territorial defence and security ecosystems

ERRIN’s Management Board Task Force on security and defence is organising a meeting with a focus on showcasing existing regional support programmes and schemes on defence and security ecosystems, as well as further exploring the role that territories play in the EU security and defence landscape. This is part of the overall strategy aiming to integrate security and defence as an emerging theme in ERRIN’s structure.

European Commission, DG DEFIS, will open the meeting and provide a strategic perspective on how ERRIN can further support the overall European security and defence ecosystem by mobilising SMEs and startups in defence and security value chains.

In this framework, we would like to showcase examples of support schemes and programmes developed by ERRIN members to support their SMEs and stakeholders in defence-related ecosystems. These examples aim to identify these practices as well as identify challenges and emerging needs. Some of them will be presented during the event. All practices will then be published on the ERRIN website as a repository, accessible to all ERRIN members.

During the meeting, we will also outline the plans for rolling out the Management Board Task Force on security and defence more broadly in the network in 2027. The event will also serve to provide follow-ups from the two meetings organised on skills for preparedness, as well as to briefly update the ERRIN community on the Territorial Preparedness Experimentation Journey launched in the framework of the 'Innovation for Place-based Transformation' Preparatory Action. This initiative is gathering six ambitious territories committed to working together on this challenge: Podkarpackie, Andalusia, Drenthe, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Vantaa and Bremen.

Members can access the form to submit regional examples through the noticeboard post here. The call for examples is open until 30 October 2026.

A draft agenda is attached.