IRE Regions

The IRE network currently brings together around 235 member regions from the 27 EU Member States, as well as from Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. The regions are, in the majority of cases, represented in the network by a regional authority or a regional development agency.

Approximately 150 of the IRE member regions have already developed regional innovation strategies, or are currently implementing a RIS project, with support from the European Commission. Representatives from additional regions are partners in the current regional innovation policy impact assessment and benchmarking projects, or have participated in previous IRE projects such as the IRE Thematic Networks which ran from 2001-2004.

All European regions working to enhance their innovation capacity, even those which have not been involved in an IRE project, can apply for membership in the IRE network.