The pandemic has exposed and exacerbated vulnerabilities in our globalised and interconnected world. It has disturbed supply chains, wiped out jobs, and tested the response capacity of businesses and whole countries to the limit, boosting the transition to a digital economy while exposing the digital gap between, countries regions and societies. Its effects will be profound and long-lasting.

The importance of leveraging the power of territories to boost innovation and entrepreneurship is being amplified by green and digital transitions and by several 21^st century challenges such as climate change, global financial crises, growing inequality, migrations, food and energy systems transition, and a pandemic not been experienced for over 100 years. This multifaceted crisis increases the need for an in-depth reflection on the policies, competences and overall functioning of territories, and ensuring they contribute to the European Green Deal and delivering on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Now is the time to take the opportunity to sketch out a “new normal”, where sustainability and digital transitions permit citizens inclusion and territorial cohesion.

This is the context of the 6^th Regional Helix conference. This edition is specially focused on territorial dimension of green and digital transitions, debating key problems related to these processes and proposing solutions for place-based entrepreneurial and societal challenges. Researchers and academics, as well as policy practitioners, are invited to submit their papers for this event, thereby bringing their valuable experience and contributions to these issues.

Carla Susana Marques / Carlos Peixeira Marques / Lívia Madureira / Ricardo Bento