The research and academic communities of South East Europe have made a big step towards joining the new era of long-term sustainable eInfrastructures in Europe, thanks to the SEE-GRID-SCI eInfrastructure for regional eScience (SEE-GRID-SCI) project, which successfully reached its end in May 2010. SEE-GRID-SCI kicked-off in May 2008 and in its two-year duration it had a catalytic effect on stimulating and empowering the regional communities in the use of the next generation regional computing & storage grid infrastructure. New scientific collaborations among user groups are now feasible with the provision of advanced capabilities to more researchers, with an emphasis on strategic groups in seismology, meteorology and environmental protection.