Albania registered in the Smart Specialisation Platform (S3P) in November 2017. Albania's smart specialisation process is currently being prepared with assistance from DG NEAR and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The S3 process will follow JRC's methodological framework for smart specialisation in the EU enlargement and neighbourhood countries.

In 2018, Albania formed an S3 Working Group that is currently coordinating further steps in preparing the collection of data and the entrepreneurial discovery process (EDP). A road map for the S3 process has been drafted and the mapping process is being prepared with TAIEX support. Albania's smart specialisation process will be organised at the national level but take a regional perspective by looking at the development state and potential of each of Albania's 12 counties (qark).

The National Strategy of Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation 2017-2022 was approved in 2017 and is implemented by two agencies, the National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation (NASRI) and the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA). Albania is an associated country to the EU's science and innovation framework programme Horizon 2020, meaning that legal entities from Albania can participate under the same conditions as legal entities from EU Member States.

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