The LINKS project (Learning from Innovation and Networking in STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics) aims at improving inquiry-based STEM teaching through the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers and their educators, both at primary and secondary levels. The project is carried by a partnership composed of 9 institutions involved in STEM CPD of teachers and their educators in Finland, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. They belong (and some of them coordinate) to national networks which all together represent 120 local CPD providers.They consider CPD as the most effective leverage to enhance the achievements of pupils in STEM. However, to make the most of CPD benefits, it is crucial to design and implement policies and programmes that target effectively the needs of teachers. This supposes to address appropriately the following issues: what type of knowledge and skills should be developed among teachers and educators? What sort of innovations should be brought to CPD in terms of content, methods, tools, especially in the context of digitalisation? Who should contribute to CPD apart from traditional CPD providers? Especially, what should be the role of employers and of the scientific community?Besides, partners take up another key challenge which is the commitment of decision-makers in the support to the expansion and sustainability of proposed CPD strategy. To raise a strong and long-lasting interest for the innovations and features developed by partners, a pre-condition is the reinforcement of their capacity to provide evidence of the positive impact of their CPD activities on teaching practices and learning outcomes.To address those issues, partners pursue the general objective of developing a network focused on systemic change, proposing to their main targets (CPD providers, local and national governments, employers, the scientific community and the European Commission) long-term strategies for innovative, effective and sustained STEM CPD.A way to strengthen this capacity to influence decision-making is to build a collective expertise among partners who are committed to: • collate and share their best practices on the design and implementation of impactful professional development of teachers and educators;• share experiences on five cross-cutting issues of major interest to create an environment conducive to successful CPD programmes (1/ working with the schools; 2/ working with the scientific community; 3/ working with the employers; 4/ quality assurance and evidence-based impact evaluation; 5/ building comprehensive partnerships and alliances);• disseminate at both national and European levels the outputs of the project to enhance the mobilization of various stakeholders. The outputs produced consist of:• one study on the best innovative practices developed by partners in their CPD programmes; a full edition of the English version of the study will be available as well as executive summaries in all languages of the partnership;• five guidance tools and their brochures will be similarly produced and disseminated on the cross-cutting issues mentioned above.In order to reinforce the dissemination and the exploitation of the results, partners organise events -five national seminars and one European conference- with a total of 245 key stakeholders and decision-makers. These events are conceived in a very participative way, seeking for the feedback and ideas of target groups for improved quality and further ownership and exploitation of results.To implement these activities and produce the outputs, partners mobilise around fourty-five members from their staff with various expertise. They gather and analyse experiences from the entire national networks.Indeed, the main impact expected is, in the longer term, the increased mobilisation of other stakeholders and decision-makers in the design and implementation of large-scale and sustained STEM CPD programmes inspired by those developed by the partners. In the process leading to this impact, short-term impacts are expected on the participants (reinforcement of their own individual expertise and subsequent changes in their practices); on their respective organisations (inclusion of innovative inputs learnt from the specific expertise of others); and on other structures of the national networks to which they belong.The Foundation La main à la pâte (France) coordinates the project and organises the work following a very participative approach in which all countries are involved in the coordination of one issue and all partners participate actively in the production of the outputs, the organisation of events and the general dissemination process. Actually, the LINKS project intend to both ensure a global consistency as well as to allow for adaptation to the needs and constraints of each country, opening a path for establishing innovative and flexible models for STEM CPD programmes at European level.