The ERRIN Year in Review 2025 is out

The ERRIN Year in Review 2025 is out

The ERRIN Year in review 2025 is out! In this annual report, we present key highlights from a year marked by strong policy influence, strategic project engagement and reinforced collaboration across Europe’s regional innovation ecosystems.

Shaping the future EU long-term budget and EU competitiveness initiatives

With the European Commission’s proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034 presented in July, advocating for a stronger place-based dimension of future EU funding became a central focus of ERRIN’s work in 2025.

As competitiveness rose to the top of the Brussels agenda, ERRIN launched a dedicated Competitiveness Workstream to closely follow major EU competitiveness initiatives and to advocate for a stronger regional dimension within them. 

Following this development, the year began with a high-level event with Members of the European Parliament on connected regional innovation ecosystems as key drivers of Europe’s competitiveness. This set the tone for ERRIN’s advocacy efforts throughout 2025 and strengthened the network’s presence in parliamentary discussions on the future of R&I funding. 

A major achievement of the year was the completion of ERRIN’s Towards the 10th Framework Programme (FP10) paper series. Developed through in-depth discussions with members, the papers on Connected Regional Innovation Ecosystems and European Partnerships were launched in connection with high-level policy events, ensuring strong visibility for ERRIN’s key messages. 

The Management Board played an active role in guiding ERRIN’s positioning in the ongoing EU long-term budget discussions, enhancing policy outreach through coordinated messaging and targeted engagement with key decision-makers, including a meeting with Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva.

Putting policy into practice through projects and facilitating collaboration

Beyond policy influence, 2025 was another strong year for project development and implementation.

ERRIN strategically positioned itself in seven new European projects during the year:

Overall, ERRIN was involved as a partner in 15 EU-funded projects over the course of 2025, using them as key instruments to bring regional insights and recommendations into European policy debates.

2025 also strengthened ERRIN’s position in priority thematic areas, resulting in several successful project applications set to launch in 2026.

Project development was supported by the continued use of the Project Development Tool, which streamlined early-stage collaboration by enabling members to share ideas, identify synergies and connect with partners. In 2025 alone, the Tool facilitated over 450 expressions of interest and led to more than 250 connections between members. Matchmaking and project development sessions – including the Regional Innovation Valleys matchmaking event and dedicated cluster-based sessions – further strengthened cross-regional cooperation and helped members prepare competitive proposals. Over 35 project proposals were submitted with the support of ERRIN's project development services, reflecting its direct impact on advancing members' strategic objectives. 

Supporting engagement in the EU Missions and widening engagement

In 2025, ERRIN’s Management Board reaffirmed two network-wide priorities:

  1. Supporting member engagement in the EU Missions and the mission-oriented approach
  2. Widening and deepening engagement in research and innovation to foster a more inclusive European ecosystem

These priorities have guided activities across ERRIN's policy and project activities and achievements of 2025, ensuring a cohesive and strategic approach to advancing regional innovation in Europe.

From high-level policy dialogue to hands-on project collaboration, 2025 demonstrated once again the strength of the ERRIN's member-driven network in shaping EU policy while delivering tangible benefits to regional innovation ecosystems.

Read the full Year in Review 2025 here. 

Looking towards 2026

A dynamic and strategically important year lies ahead. From policy dialogues and project development to mutual learning and strategic partnerships, the plans outline a rich and ambitious agenda for 2026. Explore the wealth of activities we have planned for 2026 and how to get engaged in the Cluster Annual Plans here.