The WIRE 2012 project aims at organising the conference “Week of Innovative Regions in Europe”.The general concept of the WIRE2012 conference is to present both grand challenges and main barriers concerning the development of innovativeness in regions as well as to elaborate the recommendations for European and regional innovation policy makers.The Conference shall be focused on the issue of how to implement the Innovation Union at the Regional level. The leitmotiv of the WIRE2012 - delivering the Innovation Union at Regional Level – will be discussed within three main thematic pillars - the sections of the event:• Smart regions in the Horizon 2020 will investigate the issues of regions, regional smart specialization, cities as innovation hubs, regional infrastructure and regional innovation ecosystems in particular within the Horizon 2020;• Stairway to Excellence will focus on future of regional dimension of research and innovation, synergy between the Horizon 2020 and the Cohesion Policy, smart specialization of convergence regions and Centres of Excellence;• Networking for ERA at the Regional Level will discuss the European Territorial Cooperation, networks of clusters, European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation, networks of research infrastructure and Multiregional Knowledge Partnerships (e.g. Danube, Baltic).