Aim of the network is to increase local and regional authorities' ownership of the Lisbon Agenda. The Lisbon Agenda is the EU’s strategy to make the European economy the most competitive knowledge based economy by 2010. Besides monitoring the participant’s own progress towards the Lisbon Agenda, the network will also be used as a basis for establishing a so called “Scoreboard”. This Scoreboard will compare the progress, difficulties and needs of regions and cities in relation to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy's objectives.

The monitoring exercise will be supervised by a scientific research team, comprising Lacave Allemand & Associates, in cooperation with the MERIT research laboratory (United Nations University-Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology). The results will be published on the CoR's website, via an interactive web platform, which will be up and running in October 2006. Local and regional authorities will also be able to use the platform to exchange experiences and good practices.

The Presidency Conclusions of the Spring European Council of 23/24 March 2006 strongly welcomed the CoR's initiatives to increase local and regional authorities' ownership of the Lisbon Agenda. According to last summer's CoR survey, only 17% of local and regional authorities were actually satisfied with their role in the preparation of the national reform programmes (NRPs), which set out member states' strategic plans for growth and employment for 2005-2008. The CoR has, repeatedly criticised the fact that the potential contribution of local and regional tiers has not been taken into consideration.

The deadline for applications is 27 May 2006. Local and regional authorities will be selected on a "first-come, first-served" basis with a view to ensuring a correct balance between the 11 regional profiles that cover all regions in the 25 Member States. The 11 different regional profiles are based on indicators derived from EUROSTAT data relating to the Lisbon Strategy.