EDEN is the European Distance Education Network. This year the conference focus was on “Shaping the Digital Transformation of the Education Ecosystem in Europe”. The JRC participated in the conference with a presentation titled: ‘That’s the way the cookie crumbles. And this is how open educational practices become essential ingredients’, by Andreia Inamorato, senior research in the smart specialisation team. PRI (Partnerships for Regional Innovation) and HESS (Higher Education for Smart Specialisation) were approached as initiatives that promote and illustrate ways for education institutions to further engage with transformative innovation through regional development. The PRI Playbook contains fiches with tools for a wide range of stakeholders, and the HESS project published case studies that serve as inspiration for strategic planning and action.