In the light of the Lisboa and Gothenburg strategies targeted at more sustainable patterns of economic development it is the main idea of the RECOMMEND project that eco-management systems and their preliminary stages can play a major role in meeting ecological challenges and can be used as a lever for establishing and strengthening of eco-innovation at a regional level.Based on the analysis of good practice and involving regional policymakers and stakeholders the project will deliver new and improved policy approaches and methodologies to reach the following goals:- Shaping regions of vital eco-management commitment that will raise eco-efficiency at the level of individual stakeholders- Creating and interlinking regional frameworks of eco-management and eco-innovation- Increasing the visibility of the contributions of regional economies for the solution of ecological challenges at the European levelThe exchange of experience between the partner regions will be deepenedin 3 pilot actions that will prove the practicability of the project results in terms of new and improved instruments to improve eco-innovation, such as enhanced eco-voucher schemes, eco-management practitioner networks etc.A strong project focus on awareness raising and dissemination of the project results will strengthen the commitment of regional policymakers and stakeholders for durable realisation of the Regional Implementation Plans prepared by the project partners in an assessment and peer review process. Additional briefings at EC level are planned for to feed back the project recommendations to EU policies.The project consortium consists of 10 partners from 8 Member States with a good mixture of regions with different levels of the regional support for eco-management and eco-innovation.There are several project partners from new member states which are very keen in increasing the number of eco-efficient businesses within their regions.The partners decided to develop this project, because it offers the opportunity for all regions to improve their eco-efficiency even in times of limited resources.5 partners are public authorities with responsibilities on the edge between business and environment. The other 6 partners have direct influence on the regional policies in order to raise eco-efficiency via eco-management. All of them have full support of the regional governments and therefore they can guarantee the usage of the project results even after the project duration.In 3 partner regions we decided to include two partners in the project consortium. This construction guarantees the inclusion of the know-how institution and the policy level at the same time. The project partnership decided to divide the project in 5 interrelated phases from know-how exchange to the preparation of the Regional Implementation Plan. The entire project is characterised by an intensive interregional exchange. Achievements: Are companies with an installed eco-management system more eco-innovative? That is the key question for the RECOMMEND project. Therefore the RECOMMEND project started within the first 6 months with a direct comparison of eco-innovation and eco-management support schemes from the PP regions and beyond. This comparison study is downloadable from the www.recommendproject.eu website. In the first Working Summit all partners conducted a gap analysis of their own regional funding structure, which resulted in an overview of each region. The results clearly show the interlink between eco-innovation and eco-management of businesses. All partners already chose good practices which are interesting for an improvement of their own regional eco funding structure. Some partners also test new ways of presenting their own good practices to the other participants, such as films, expert discussions and future peer reviews. Further the project already managed to get the first articles printed in regional media.