To support research policy formulation through exploring and analyzing the policies, which promote greater openness and integration into the ERA at regional level, such as: mobility schemes, international cooperation agreements, joint programming, coordinated investments in research infrastructures, promotion of knowledge flows, as well as policies aiming to promote an environment conducive to research and innovation in the regions, and policies targeted at research-driven clusters. The end result will be an assessment of the degree of integration in the ERA of a sample of 16 selected regions.

To develop indicators for monitoring integration of European regions in the ERA such as level of co-publications with other regions, level of co-participation in FP projects, degree of internationalisation of university-industry links, R&D specialisation, etc., based on which to design a regular reporting system for regional R&D policies.

To support research policy learning through studying the nature of research-driven clusters in a selected number of regions, the articulation of public-private research in those clusters, the increasing international distribution of clusters and the role of research policies at regional level to develop the clusters‟ dynamics in an ERA perspective.