The aim of this paper is to introduce and characterize generalized Drazin invertible operators relative to a regularity \(\mathcal {R}\) (generalized Drazin- \(\mathcal {R}\) invertible operators, for short) to the context of closed operators. Also, by considering \((T(t))_{t \ge 0}\) a \(C_{0}\) -semigroup of operators on a Banach space X and A its infinitesimal generator, we study the following spectral inclusions \(e^{t\sigma _{\mathcal{D}\mathcal{R}}(A)} \subseteq \sigma _{\mathcal{D}\mathcal{R}}(T(t))\) and \(\sigma _{\mathcal{D}\mathcal{R}}(T(t)) \subseteq e^{t \sigma _{\mathcal{D}\mathcal{R}}(A)} \cup \{0\}\) , where \(\sigma _{\mathcal{D}\mathcal{R}}(.)\) represents the spectrum relative to the class of generalized Drazin- \(\mathcal {R}\) invertible operators. Finally, we provide new applications of the concept of closed generalized Drazin- \(\mathcal {R}\) invertible operators in relation with delay differential equations and also with second-order partial differential equations.