The DAREnet project is to support flood management practitioners across the EU Danube River region and from different disciplines to deepen and broaden their Research, Development and Innovation related collaboration (=RDI). DAREnet will build a multi-disciplinary community of practitioners, operating in a network of civil protection organisations, and supported by a broad range of stakeholders from policy, industry and research. Together they will build a transnational and interdisciplinary ecosystem to foster synergies, innovation and its uptake. One of the key-results of DAREnet will be a regularly updated RDI Roadmap highlighting promising innovation opportunities to cope with the main environmental and societal challenges of the region. It will provide concrete perspectives for the further development, industrialisation and uptake of innovations of highest relevance for practitioners. The Roadmap will be the result of a systematic assessment and prioritisation of promising innovations, including standardisation to foster the development of common capabilities. The RDI Roadmap will also lay the basis for concrete innovation initiatives, practitioner-driven and “bottom-up”, building a unique portfolio of joint innovation concepts for the Danube river region. To reach sustainable impact, DAREnet will draw upon synergies with the modules and facilities of the EUCPM and the regional strategies for flood prevention and risk management of the ICPDR and EUSDR. DAREnet will promote the RDI Roadmap and Portfolio to political key-stakeholders on national, regional and European level, and will also prospect institutional options to ensure the continuity of the DAREnet innovation process after project end.