Abstract
The European Union is steering its development by a series of successive strategic documents, its grand strategies. While having important role, these strategies do not have a perfect implementation score and a score of initiatives and research is dedicated to better understand these processes. The article presents one such initiative, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Technologies and Innovations in Regional Development for Europe 2020, a focal point of competence on the topic. Utilising novel Social Fields approach to innovation, the centre combines original empirical research, public debates and formal and informal learning to collect and disseminate knowledge on the topic.