The Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument (I3) creates linkages for interregional collaboration bringing together actors from different EU regions investing in joint innovation projects along S3 priorities and close to the market.

The present call aims to test new approaches for increasing the capacity of regional innovation ecosystems in less developed regions to collaborate in EU value chains. Actions under this call will unlock the innovation potential of regional innovation ecosystem actors and will facilitate their participation in calls under the Interregional Innovation Investment Instrument (I3), e.g. for the submission of proposals under the I3 Instrument Strands 1 and 2a.

As output, Strand 2b projects refer to the concrete experimentation of new approaches, solutions and good practices to engage in interregional innovation processes mobilising ecosystems and in particular SMEs. Projects are expected to deliver a pipeline of potential interregional investments as well as business and investment plans. The strengthening of the competitiveness and of the resilience of EU innovation systems will help Europe to face particularly societal and economic challenges on its transition to a healthy planet and a new digital world.