In view of the upcoming departure of ERRIN's current Director of projects, Ryan Titley, ERRIN is looking for a replacement to start in September 2024. The new colleague will work closely with the ERRIN Director on strategic planning, and lead the implementation and development of ERRIN's current and future project portfolio.

About the role

The Head of projects will coordinate ERRIN’s involvement in European projects, ensure strategic planning of new projects, and foster strategic partnerships with external stakeholders, including EU institutions. Together with the ERRIN team, the Head of projects will develop and ensure an excellent delivery of ERRIN’s project portfolio.

The Head of projects will work closely with the ERRIN Director on financial planning and management, as well as staff management. As part of the organisation’s management team, the Head of projects will take an active role in developing the network.

ERRIN currently participates in ten European projects mainly funded by the Horizon Europe programme. ERRIN project engagement is driven by a network strategy and is delivered in close collaboration with the ERRIN member Working Groups and thematic Clusters.

Find the full overview of responsibilities in attachment.

Candidate profile

We are looking for a colleague with a minimum of five years experience in a management role involving strategic planning, financial planning and coordinating a team. The candidate should have extensive experience in project management, and working with local and regional governments and their stakeholders, be familiar with the functioning of a membership association and have excellent interpersonal, networking and communication skills.

The candidate is expected to start in September 2024 and should be based in Brussels or willing to relocate at the start of their contract.

Find the full overview of requirements in attachment.

What we offer

We offer a permanent contract with a competitive monthly salary between €5000-6000 depending on experience. Other benefits include 13th month, hospitalisation and healthcare insurance, meal vouchers and transport pass for Brussels.

The average weekly working time at ERRIN is set at 40h/week with reduction of working time (RTT).

ERRIN promotes a healthy work-life balance and offers flexible office/homeworking schedule.

How to apply

Applicants are requested to send a one-page letter clearly describing their experience related to the requirements, including the possible starting date, and a CV with contacts for two references to teresa.vio@errin.eu.

Please mention “ERRIN Head of Projects” in the subject of the email.

The deadline to apply is 20 May at 17:00 CEST. 

As innovation ecosystems connecting different stakeholders, Living Labs have demonstrated to be crucial tools in achieving the European Commission Missions goals to tackle critical global challenges, from environmental sustainability to public health. To support Living Labs, the European Union has also been promoting European Partnerships, collaborative initiatives that foster the implementation of Living Labs in crucial fields, such as digitalization, climate action, health, and mobility.

ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) is planning an event on 'Living Labs in EU Missions and Partnerships', featuring expert speakers from the European Commission and successful Living Lab projects, who will guide you through two fascinating modules to showcase how Living Labs support the European Commission Missions, by advancing innovation and addressing societal challenges within the context of Horizon Europe.

The programme of the day includes:

• Session 1 (8:30-12:45): "Living Labs: A Strategic Approach to Advancing the European Commission's Missions."
• Session 2 (14:00-17:30): "Exploring the Role and Potentialities of Living Labs in European Partnerships."

Book your spot and get ready for interesting insights on the key role of Living Labs in driving positive changes. Fill out the form here

This thematic seminar "Knowledge valorisation for the regional and local R&I ecosystems", jointly organised by the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions on 14 May, will focus on how regional and local authorities can foster knowledge valorisation and boost innovation ecosystems, translating knowledge into practical and innovative solutions. The workshop will explore this question, drawing upon experiences and practical insights gained from the Mutual Learning Exercise on Knowledge Valorisation and from the Committee’s Members.

One of the flagship areas of the New European Innovation Agenda, established in 2022 to set a comprehensive European strategy for innovation, is accelerating and strengthening innovation in R&I ecosystems across the EU and addressing the persistent innovation divide across Europe despite various EU and national actions.  Enhanced diffusion of knowledge is among the complementarity actions that can generate innovation potential and strengthen regional innovation ecosystems, thereby improving the daily lives of citizens and offering innovative solutions to the challenges and opportunities currently facing Europe.

As outlined in the Council recommendation on the guiding principles for knowledge valorisation adopted in December 2022, knowledge valorisation aims to generate social and economic value from knowledge by integrating various sectors and transforming data, expertise, and research findings into sustainable products, services, solutions, and evidence-based policies. The Council's recommendation sets out common policy principles and measures for national, regional, and local policymakers to transform R&I results into solutions that benefit society.

The guiding principles are:

• (i) engaging all actors in R&I ecosystems;
• (ii) focusing on connections and co-creation between actors; and
• (iii) emphasising entrepreneurial skills and practices.

Moreover, in line with European Research Area (ERA) action 7, the European Commission has launched a Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Knowledge Valorisation, which started on 24 March 2023 and was financed by the Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility (PSF).

You can find the programme here. Registration is open until 12 May 2024. 

The seminar will be held back-to-back with a workshop co-organised with the EESCon Exploring Artificial Intelligence in R&D, from 9:30 to 13:00.

Knowledge valorisation is a topic of interest for ERRIN's Science and Education for Society (SEFS) Working Group. The presentations from the most recent SEFS WG meeting on the societal impact of Research and Innovation held on 22 April, can be retrieved here. 

M2S presents the solutions that meet the new uses of mobility for everyone on a daily basis and addresses all types of transport, for goods and people. For two days, various exhibitions, business meetings, demonstrations and events will bring together professionals from the ecosystem (solutions and services providers, decision makers from the private sector and local authorities).

More information and program available here.

KU Leuven Institute for Cultural Heritage, in partnership with Una Europa and the Belgian presidency, is hosting an event on Pioneering Futures: Rethinking Cultural and Heritage Ecosystems. Hosted in Leuven as part of the official event calendar of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, this event welcomes policymakers, academics, practitioners, and wider stakeholders to chart a course for the advancement of cultural and heritage ecosystems within a regional, national, and European context.

Through stimulative “check-in” debates at the beginning of each session, participants will address a series of discourses on cultural and heritage education, research, and societal outreach and ecosystems, looking also into policy perspectives and identifying pioneering ways forward.

Participants will co-create and visualise approaches that answer the following questions:

Panel 1: What are cultural heritage education avenues to be explored in the time of global challenges?

• Check-in talks will reflect on stories of Una Europa’s education programmes, the potential of EIT Culture & Creativity’s entrepreneurial approach to education as well as C-SHIP program, CHARTER’s recommendations on innovative and emerging cultural heritage education and training paths in Europe, and how the European degree could impact education and the wider field of cultural heritage at European and Flemish levels.

Panel 2: How do we build on and bond research, societal outreach, and culture & creativity ecosystems?

• Check-in talks will explore success stories such as CHARP in building bridges from research to society, how ARCHE is designing a strategic research and innovation agenda for societal outreach, links that the European Heritage Hub creates in diversifying cultural heritage ecosystems through the Triple Transformation (green, digital, and social), and the role of regional catalysts such as European Capital of Culture 2030 Leuven candidature, accelerating European future culture & creativity ecosystems.

Panel 3: What are the policy perspectives for pioneering ways forward in the field of cultural heritage?

• The European Commission will provide insights on new perspectives and upcoming initiatives regarding cultural heritage in both policy and research, European Institute of Innovation and Technology on the future of entrepreneurial education, KU Leuven and Una Europa on research policies and strategies, as well as insights on actions of Flanders Heritage Agency and Belgian presidency’s legacy.

The full programme and registration are now available.

Participants are expected to attend most of the programme with an opportunity to visit and enjoy the historical site of De Hoorn Brewery.

The Friends of Smart Specialisation (FoSS) are organising their fifth-anniversary workshop. The event will take place in person on 15 May from 16:00-18:00, hosted at the Nordic House (Rue du Luxembourg 3, 5th floor, 1000 Brussels) by the Greater Birmingham West Midlands Brussels Office and Oslo Region European Office. The event will be followed by a networking cocktail.

The topic of the workshop will be "Smart specialisation – where from, where now, and where to... and why?". The discussions will cover the current practice and future of S3 as the cohesion policy debate goes into full swing, in the context of the emergence of a European industrial policy, the publication of the recent Letta Report and upcoming EU elections.

Experts from DG REGIO, DG GROW, the new S3 CoP and the European Committee of the Regions have been invited to join the workshop to give their own opinion and engage in an open panel discussion with the audience and a range of experts on S3. 

You may find the draft agenda of the event and a briefing discussion note outlining some of FoSS current thinking on the workshop topic attached.

Register here before 10 May. Please note that the space is limited.

The S3 Community of Practice (S3 CoP) together with DG REGIO are organising a series of webinars directed to S3 stakeholders from regions across the EU Member States, bringing together experts, policymakers, and key industry representatives to discuss common challenges, good practices, and lessons learned from EU regions in selected S3-related areas.

The third webinar in the series will focus on "Understanding the bottlenecks to innovation diffusion: insights from EU regions" and will be held by the S3 CoP Working Group on Innovation Diffusion on 23 May 2024 from 10:00-12:00 CEST.

This webinar is designed to engage S3 practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders in a dialogue about the challenges that EU regions are facing when trying to foster innovation diffusion. Innovation diffusion can be defined as the process through which different organisations gather ideas from outside and use them to introduce an innovation (e.g. a new process of production, a new product itself or a new way of providing a service) and comprises also the process of adoption of existing technologies (e.g. purchasing machinery developed elsewhere or signing a license agreement for an existing patent). It includes the analysis of how new ideas, practices and innovation spread through a society. In so doing, it is essential to involve SMEs, the backbone of the EU economy, which are extremely difficult to engage and yet are critical to understand innovation needs and dynamics across territories.

Learn more, find the full agenda and register here.

The S3 CoP WG on Innovation Diffusion aims to foster a learning process for relevant policy stakeholders on the fulfilment of the S3 enabling condition for innovation diffusion. 

Other webinars currently announced in the series include "Empowering interregional collaboration – from capacity to funding" on 16 May 2024 from 10:00-12:00 CEST and "Paving the way for industrial transition through systemic change and inclusive strategies" on 22 May from 14:30-16:30 CEST.

The S3 Community of Practice (S3 CoP) together with DG REGIO are organising a series of webinars directed to S3 stakeholders from regions across the EU Member States, bringing together experts, policymakers, and key industry representatives to discuss common challenges, good practices, and lessons learned from EU regions in selected S3-related areas.

The second webinar in the series will focus on "Paving the way for industrial transition through systemic change and inclusive strategies" and will be held by the S3 CoP Working Group on Industrial Transition on 22 May from 14:30-16:30 CEST.

This webinar is designed to engage S3 practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders in a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities in industrial transition. Addressing the challenges linked to long-term transformations demands a comprehensive approach, encompassing understanding and navigating systemic change, alongside ensuring an inclusive industrial transition to prevent any region from being left behind. The event will focus on key implementation challenges identified by S3 practitioners in meeting the S3 enabling condition for industrial transition and gather stakeholder perspectives on needed S3 strategies and support actions to enhance systemic industrial transition efforts across European regions.

The webinar is designed to allow participants to keep up to date on the most recent activities of the Working Group, get insights from EU regions and industry representatives and participate in the discussions.

As part of the event, ERRIN S3 WG leader Lucie Durocher from Région Sud will take part in the panel discussion on regional challenges for industrial transition.

Learn more, find the full agenda and register here.

The S3 CoP WG on Industrial Transition aims to foster a learning process for relevant policy stakeholders on the fulfilment of the S3 enabling condition for industrial transition.

Other webinars currently announced in the series include "Empowering interregional collaboration – from capacity to funding" on 16 May 2024 from 10:00-12:00 CEST and "Understanding the bottlenecks to innovation diffusion: insights from EU regions" on 23 May from 10:00-12:00 CEST.

The S3 Community of Practice (S3 CoP) together with DG REGIO are organising a series of webinars directed to S3 stakeholders from regions across the EU Member States, bringing together experts, policymakers, and key industry representatives to discuss common challenges, good practices, and lessons learned from EU regions in selected S3-related areas.

The first webinar in the series will focus on "Empowering interregional collaboration – from capacity to funding" and will be held by the S3 CoP Working Group on Interregional Collaboration on 16 May 2024 from 10:00-12:00 CEST.

This webinar is designed to engage S3 practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders in a dialogue about the challenges and opportunities in interregional collaboration. With insights drawn from the 2023 activities of the S3 CoP WG on Interregional Collaboration, this session aims to build on the groundwork of previous discussions and further enhance collaborative efforts across regions with a special focus on building capacity, securing funding, and aligning strategic objectives for sustainable development.

ERRIN Director Pirita Lindholm will take the floor during the webinar to talk about "Networks as capacity building for Interregional Collaboration".

Learn more, find the full agenda and register here.

The S3 CoP WG on Interregional Collaboration aims to foster a learning process for relevant policy stakeholders on the fulfilment of the S3 enabling condition for interregional collaboration. ERRIN is a partner in the S3 CoP Secretariat, with ERRIN Director Pirita Lindholm and ERRIN S3 Working Group leader Francesca D'Angelo from the Region of Tuscany also being members of the S3 CoP WG on Interregional Collaboration.

Other webinars currently announced in the series include "Paving the way for industrial transition through systemic change and inclusive strategies" on 22 May from 14:30-16:30 and "Understanding the bottlenecks to innovation diffusion: insights from EU regions" on 23 May from 10:00-12:00 CEST.

Through the Digital Europe Programme, the European Commission has launched a collaborative effort to accelerate digital maturity, with a particular focus on communities that are less digitally ready for digital transformation. These services aim to foster the adoption of local digital twins and other digital solutions across rural and urban areas, ensuring that technology is accessible to all.

Participation will provide you with essential tools for digital transformation. The services will provide

• A comprehensive assessment of your current IT infrastructure's maturity,
• A tailored digitalisation roadmap, along with strategic guidance to identify and fulfil procurement needs essential for building the necessary technical capabilities
• Dedicated support on the identification of procurement needs and guidance on procurement strategies, considering open standards and interoperability requirements.

You are invited to express your interest to take part of the Support services for EU Smart Communities. You can do so here.

You will find on this page a document summarising the offer. 

By participating, your city/community will enjoy the following benefits:

• Tailored support and consultancy as well as tools to guide your digital strategy development and realisation.
• Online advisory services to help your community assess technological readiness for implementing MIM-compliant local data platforms.
• Assessment of your community's digital and technical maturity for a customised digitalisation roadmap.
• Identification of procurement needs to advance the digitalisation roadmap implementation, and future access to tailored procurement guidelines and templates available on the online Helpdesk.
• Participation to a European peer network pioneering the advancement of local data platforms and Al-powered digital twins.
• First mover advantage and contribution to shaping the design of the initiative.
• Community's visibility, sharing of best practices, successes, and failures to leverage on learnings and peer exchange.