ERRIN has been advocating for integrating an ecosystem approach in the European Research Area since the start of its renewal process. In the context of the Policy Working Group, several discussions were organised on the regional dimension of the ERA as well as on the ERA Hubs concept. The Council Conclusions on the future governance on the ERA, adopted on 26 November 2021, also included an annex on the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024. This Policy Agenda features a specific action on “Building-up regional and national R&I ecosystems to improve regional/national excellence and competitiveness”.

At the same time, a call was opened under the widening part of the Horizon Europe programme on the ERA Hubs (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ACCESS-04-01). The call focuses on the collaboration of place-based innovation ecosystems in widening countries and beyond. It can be understood as a widening projection of ERA Hubs and the ERA policy actions.

In this frame, Policy WG is organising a meeting on widening in the context of ERA Hubs. Stefan Weiers, Head of Sector Widening, ERA & Research Infrastructure Programming at DG RTD, European Commission will join the session for a presentation and Q&A discussion. The meeting will take place online on Monday, 17 January at 15:00-16:00 CET.

Thank you for attending the WG meeting. You may find the presentation from the meeting on this page.