On 25/6/2026, the first online event “ENDR Newcomers’ Day” took place, where 13 new members joining ENDR during the last months presented themselves. These included the Central German Institute for Security Industry (MISI), the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (GR), the Turku Security Dual-Use Ecosystem (FI), the Agder European Office (NO), the European DeepTech Ecosystem AKTANTIS (FR), the Andalusia Defense Hub (ES), Impuls Zeeland (NL), the Italian Trade Agency ITA, the Cluster Defence.NRW (DE), the Province of South Holland, the Regional Council of Central Finland, the Grand-Est Chamber of Industry and Commerce (FR) and the Cluster Aviaspace Bremen (DE).
After those presentations, the ENDR Team has presented the call for proposals for future ENDR Conferences that will be published by the end of June 2026 and explained the procedure to express interest in the co-organisations of those events.
Another highlight of the day was the presentation of the REGDUALOSA study by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. REGDUALOSA is an Exploratory Research Activity aiming to understand how regional innovation policies can leverage the dual-use and defence industry, fostering development while contributing to the EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy. The study was drawn up with the participation of three regions represented in the ENDR and contains concrete recommendations to the regions on how to benefit from the high demand for arms investments for long-term regional growth. The study is here.
The ENDR is managed by Unit B.1. As of 25 June 2026, 122 entities from 23 Member States and Norway are members of the network.
More conferences and events are taking place in 2026. Feedback confirmed the event’s high value as a platform for networking, exchanging best practices and collaboration among regions and regional clusters in the area of security and defence industry.