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About Us

The European Chemical Regions Network (ECRN) brings together European regions in which the chemical industry plays a crucial role in economic development, growth, and employment. By facilitating interregional cooperation, policy development, and participating in European projects, the network advocates for a strong regional dimension in the EU chemical policy agenda to create European modern and sustainable value chains.

Our History

The Story Behind ECRN

ECRN originally started as an INTERREG IIIc project in 2004, to help regions better tackle common challenges by exchanging information, exploring innovative solutions, and by speaking with a single voice in Europe. Today the network has grown from a temporary project to a recognized European chemical stakeholder and a network full of expertise. ECRN is a registered non-profit association under Belgian law and the network currently covers various European chemical regions, whose cooperation is supported by a Brussels-based secretariat.

As the sole regional representative of the EU chemical industry, ECRN brought the voice of regions into the discussions within the European Commission’s “High-Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry”. ECRN works together with European and regional chemical stakeholders and contributes to a range of policy areas from industrial policy, competitiveness, chemical regulation and REACH to skills, innovation, environment, and circular economy.

founded in Brussels

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EU countries represented

Our mission

Our Strategic Vision

ECRN advocates for a stronger regional dimension in European strategies and policies related to the chemical industry. We believe that the chemical industry can effectively respond to Europe’s societal challenges with sustainable and innovative solutions if its economic growth is linked to territorial development. By bringing concrete local experiences and solutions into EU policy-making, the network aims to bridge the gap between policy elaboration and local impact. Our goals are:

Increase regional dimension in the EU policy

Give single voice to the chemical regions interests

Foster interregional cooperation

Improve regional development strategies

Create regional partnerships

Our approach

A Platform for Cooperation

In an increasingly interconnected world, the role of cooperation and connectivity is more important than ever before. By working together we strive to facilitate better policy-making, better conditions for regional cooperation, and more investments and shared capacities. ECRN bears unique features within the European scene as a network of public authorities with a specific focus on the development of the chemical industry.

As the chemical industry undergoes transformations that ask for new forms of engagement, we need platforms where stakeholders are brought together. As a network of chemical regions focused on cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation, ECRN has already been providing such a platform.

Our services

What We Do

Advocacy and Awareness Raising

We provide a platform where regional actors can raise awareness about the impact of EU policies at local level, share common challenges and exchange ideas for possible solutions. We provide insights to our members on the most recent policy developments and give voice to our region’s interests in the EU policy debate. We organize regular internal and public events, together with the European Institutions – European Commission, European Parliament, and the European Committee of the Regions – as well as with our regional partners and stakeholders.

Facilitate Interregional Cooperation

We gather experts from the public, private, and research sectors and support them to identify how they can be complementary to each other and what they can learn from each other in terms of policies and strategies, research work, industrial partnerships, emerging value chains, and markets. In this way, we build connections and linkages between sectors, actors, and across borders.

Knowledge Sharing

We facilitate knowledge sharing and the transfer of technical know-how among regional authorities and stakeholders. We provide a network where regions can learn from each other and share the most successful policies and strategies to make their chemical industry more sustainable and competitive.

Development of Joint Statements

Taking part in the shaping of EU policies is a network priority. As regions act as testbeds for new innovative solutions, approaches or policy strategies, their experiences should be leveraged by the EU institutions when building EU-wide policies. We have participated several times in the collection of regional inputs for the European Commission and the European Committee of the Regions.

Support of European Cooperation Projects

We believe that regions can benefit greatly by investing in common projects or by taking part in EU initiatives. For this reason, we raise awareness and engage our members in EU funded projects and initiatives, and provide a platform where reached results and gained knowledge are shared. ECRN members participate in Interreg and Horizon2020 projects to leverage common smart specialization priorities and benchmark best practices. They also take part in the Initiative European Sustainable Chemicals Support Service, implemented by the European Commission, to promote sustainability in Europe’s chemical industry.