This volume is composed of papers presented at the 3rd European Space Weather Week. The meeting took place at the Royal Library of Belgium between 13‐17 November 2006. This event built on the advances made during the first two European Space Weather Weeks held at ESA/ESTEC in 2004 and 2005. The 2006 meeting adopted the central aim of bringing together diverse communities working on all elements of space weather. The organizers are pleased to see this reflected in the papers published in this special issue, the following publications covering a range of space weather oriented advances in both scientific research and transitioning new research into applications. The 2006 event specifically focused on new results through a cross-disciplinary “hot topics” session. The agenda also focused on a number of topical thematic issues from both scientific and applications oriented perspectives. New tools and techniques were discussed and demonstrated during the workshop with a view to aiding the transition between new scientific results and space weather services. The meeting also aimed to facilitate community development and investigation of possible routes towards the creation of a sustainable space weather activity in Europe. The meeting was attended by more than two hundred participants from almost 30 countries including strong participation from many Eastern European states, leading to many fruitful discussions. Meeting organisation was carried out jointly between the Solar Influences Data analysis Center (SIDC) at the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB), ESA, the SWWT, the COST 724 and COST 296 communities. The local organization was done by the SIDC. The meeting website can be found at: http://sidc.oma.be/ esww3. The chairpersons of the meeting J. Lilensten and A. Glover would like to express their thanks to all members of the Organising Committee, namely A. Belehaki, A. Hilgers, A. Bourdillon, M. Rycroft, M. Hapgood, F. Lefeuvre, P.‘Gille and R. Van der Linden together with the Local Organising Committee for their support and hard work to ensure a successful meeting.