Leitat Joins ERRIN to Strengthen Regional and Local Research and Innovation Ecosystems in Europe

Leitat’s mission to manage technologies to create and transfer social, environmental, economic and industrial sustainable value for companies and entities cannot be dissociated from enhancing local and regional ecosystems. As such, Leitat has recently joined the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN), aiming to work towards a less fragmented European R&I ecosystem.

ERRIN is a well-known Brussels-based platform that gathers around 120 regional organisations involved in research and innovation: regional and local administrations, universities, public and private bodies with a regional mandate. Established in 2001, ERRIN focuses on strengthening the regional and local dimension in EU Research and Innovation policy and programmes.

Organised in 15 Working Groups and two Task Forces, ERRIN covers thematic areas and overarching policy issues mirroring Horizon Europe’s Pillar 2 clusters. ERRIN members meet regularly to exchange information, present regional examples, build new partnerships and develop joint projects.

By joining ERRIN, Leitat has joined forces with local authorities such as ACCIÓ – Catalonia Trade & Investment Agency and Generalitat de Catalunya, with two main purposes which can be summarised as follows: Inspire & Aspire.
• Inspire the European Commission & other cities/ regions by giving visibility of the regional R&I feedback ;
• Aspire to consider the regions’ and cities’ existing technological challenges within the Research & Innovation ecosystem stakeholders as well as to work towards cutting-edge technologies encouraging place-based solutions.

Specifically, the aforementioned purposes are translated into Leitat’s involvement in three Working groups -Energy & Climate Change, Smart Cities, Blue Economy – and one taskforce – the New European Bauhaus-.