Five years, 84 projects, and €356 million
The I3 Instrument has expanded to reach a portfolio of 84 projects, with nearly €356 million awarded and over 1,500 participating organizations. Regional coverage is virtually universal: proposals have engaged 229 of the EU’s 244 NUTS 2 regions, while funded projects cover 185 regions and all Member States.
The 2026 I3 Observatory Report, presented during the Forum, provides initial data on completed projects. The most significant outcome: seven of the eight finalized investment projects achieved a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 8 or 9, positioning them on the brink of commercialization. Furthermore, all 17 completed projects continue active collaboration with their partners post-funding, and three of the eight investment projects have secured follow-on financing.
Tangible impacts across regions
Behind the numbers lie genuine institutional transformations within regional ecosystems. In North-East Romania, the SustainX project helped establish the SAGE Hub, a single point of entry for innovative businesses seeking support within the regional ecosystem. In Germany, the Bridge & Shift project identified gaps in data-driven decision-making and business communication, leading the region to respond by onboarding a data analyst and a communications analyst. In the textile sector, RegioGreenTex created a Mirror Group connecting project partners, SMEs, and policymakers, ensuring the continuity of activities beyond project closure.
The emerging pattern is clear: the I3 Instrument not only finances individual innovations, but also builds capabilities, networks, and working practices that endure beyond the end of EU funding.
European value chains built on regional strengths
A central argument made at the Forum is that regional strengths, when properly aligned, can become complementary building blocks of European value chains. SICAPERMA is working on permanent magnet recycling to reduce European dependence on imported critical raw materials, with half of its partners based in less developed regions. DeremCo is establishing value chains for recycled composite materials with hubs in those same regions, while BATMASS connects regional capabilities across the entire battery value chain.
Cascading funding mechanisms have mobilized more than €35 million in additional resources, facilitating SME participation in interregional innovation projects and channeling funds toward less developed regions. In the Mediterranean, AquaLoops4Med received 25 SME applications for its cascading funding scheme—far exceeding the five originally anticipated.
The next hurdle: bridging the gap from high TRL to commercial reality
The Forum also clearly identified the next challenge. Reaching a high Technology Readiness Level does not automatically guarantee market entry or successful scaling. For projects at TRL 8 or 9, access to finance, regulatory fragmentation, and market demand remain significant barriers.
Discussions highlighted the need to engage end users from the early stages, gain a clear understanding of actual market demand, and connect successful projects with investors as well as available regional, national, and European funding instruments.
A 5% success rate: demand overwhelmingly outstrips supply
The figure that best illustrates the instrument’s current standing is its success rate in recent calls for proposals: a mere 5%, even as the quality of submitted proposals continues to rise. Demand far outstrips the available budget, placing the continuation and reinforcement of the I3 Instrument as a key policy decision within the context of the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework.
The European Commission has proposed maintaining support for interregional innovation investment in the upcoming 2028–2034 financial framework, and the Forum explored opportunities to link the I3 Instrument with other European investment tools and larger-scale strategic value chains.
The Compass Value-Add: The true measure of a European project is what remains once the funding dries up
European innovation policy has spent decades measuring its outcomes in terms of projects funded, euros awarded, and technology readiness levels achieved. These are useful and necessary metrics. But the most revealing data point in the I3 Instrument Observatory Report 2026 is none of those: it is that all 17 completed projects continue working with their partners after EU funding has closed. That is no mere administrative detail—it is the only true proof that something has changed. An interregional collaboration that outlasts the end of the grant means the actors involved have found their own incentive to stay together, built sufficient trust to sustain the relationship unfunded, and created something that did not exist before—and does not disappear when the final report is signed off.
The I3 Instrument does not fund projects; it funds relationships. And a relationship that endures is worth more to European cohesion and competitiveness than ten projects that die the moment the last euro is spent. The question that should guide the design of the next financial framework is not how many projects can be funded, but how many of them will still be alive five years after they end.
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