11:30-13:00       Networking Lunch & Registration

13:00-13:30       Welcome remarks | Opening statements

• Ministry of Civil Affairs, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Delegation of the European Union to BiH
• European Commission, DG Research and Innovation
• Romanian EU Council Presidency
• Regional Cooperation Council
• European Commission, DG Joint Research Center

13:30-15:30       Towards Steering Platform meeting 2019
                          Recent R&I cooperation developments in/with the Western Balkans

• Follow-up Brussels, R&I Strategies, R&I budgets (update from the Western Balkan 6)
• Debriefing from the Joint Science Conference, Rome, June 2018 (Bernhard Fabianek, DG Research and Innovation)
• Technology Transfer Activities in the Western Balkans (Elena Andonova, DG Joint Research Centre)
• “Digital Agenda For Western Balkans” initiative (Bernhard Fabianek for DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology)
• Update on Western Balkans participation in COST (Katalin Alföldi, COST)

15:30-16:00       Coffee Break

16:00-17:15       Towards Steering Platform meeting 2019 (continued)
                           Upcoming | Next steps (continued)

• Multi-Annual Action Plan on Regional Economic Area: Progress and needs assessment report on R&D and Innovation related actions (Vanja Ivosevic, Regional Cooperation Council)
• Progress towards Open Science (Mihajlo Savic, University of Banja Luka)

      Discussion | Summing up | Preparatory steps towards Steering Platform meeting / Ministerial Meeting

17:15-18:00       Conclusions and Summary of the preparatory tasks for the Steering Platform meeting / Ministerial Meeting

• Measures (e.g. capacity building, finance, etc.) to be undertaken by Western Balkan 6 in view of integration into the European Research Area
• Regional research and innovation flagship initiatives (Marijeta Barjaktarović Lanzardi, SEEIIST Contact Point for Montenegro)

20:00                  Networking Dinner

WEDNESDAY, 27 MARCH 2019

09:00-11:00       Smart specialisation in the context of R&I capacity building          

• Upcoming steps in Smart Specialisation in the Western Balkans (Ales Gnamus, DG Joint Research Centre)
• Support for Smart Specialisation in the Western Balkans and preparatory studies (International Service Facility)
• Update on Smart Specialisation (Western Balkans 6)

Discussion

11:00-11:30       Coffee Break

11:30-13:00       Integration of the Western Balkans in the EU

• Technology Transfer in Croatia and lessons learned for the Western Balkans: Experience of the University of Rijeka (Petra Karanikic, University of Rijeka)
• Participation of Western Balkans 6 in Horizon 2020 (Bernhard Fabianek, DG Research and Innovation)
• Outlook on Horizon Europe (Kostas Glinos, DG Research and Innovation)
• Needs for technical assistance and capacity development (Western Balkans 6)

Discussion

13:00-14:00       Conclusions on the further integration of the Western Balkans in the EU

14:00-16:30       B2B meetings

Participants list