A private Science|Business Network roundtable connecting Research & Innovations  dots: The power of regional and digital clusters. As discussions around the next MFF are proceeding, innovation clusters have – more than ever – become a ground for synergies between several EU programmes including Horizon Europe, Digital Europe, Structural Funds and the Single Market Programme. While the European Commission already invested billions to support innovation at cluster level, stakeholders on the ground highlight the complexity of EU schemes for regional innovation and claim that “European innovation ecosystems” do not yet receive the recognition they deserve.

With the emergence of new forms of innovation hubs and the rapid advancement of digital technologies, the opportunities to bridge current gaps are huge. This raises a critical question: how can we better connect regional innovation ecosystems, so that frontier research, high potential technologies and success stories are available to the greatest number of actors across Europe?In a closed-door setting, a select group of experts from industry, research, public authorities and regional development agencies reviewed the current obstacles, discussed new opportunities and addressed recommendations to the European Parliament and incoming Commission on how to accelerate innovation within and between regional and digital clusters. The roundtable was hosted by the Delegation of the Basque Country to the EU.