Western Balkan Countries

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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Research and Innovation Policy in Western Balkans - some recent developments

In recent years the Western Balkan countries have made some important efforts to overcome the negative consequences of the economic and political transition and its impact on the region’s research and innovation sectors: They adopted a variety of strategies, laws and programs to improve the performance of the sector on the national level and they improved the regional cooperation in R&D for example by committing themselves to “Western Balkans Regional R&D Strategy for Innovation” and Smart Growth pillar of the “South East European 2020 Strategy” (SEE 2020). All countries are also associated to Horizon 2020; the preliminary results show some first success stories however overall participation rate is quite low. WBC also agreed on the establishment of “Western Balkans Research and Innovation Centre” (WISE) by the end of 2015 aiming at strengthening the regional research, innovation and technology systems by providing support, advice, information and recommendations to the states, public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations and all other relevant stakeholders. However, social and political problems are still more pressing in WBC than the low level of R&D investment (Serbia and Montenegro spend on around 1% of GDP on R&D, while other countries in the region spend up to 0,3% of GDP) or support for technology transfer activities. The importance of the education, research and innovation for the overall success of the EU-integration efforts of the Western Balkans was again confirmed during the 1st Joint Science Conference held on July 15-17, 2015 in Halle and Berlin and during the second Summit Meeting on the Western Balkans held in Vienna on August 27, 2015 – both events in the framework of the Western Balkans Process, also known as the ‘Berlin process'.

Research and Innovation Policy in Western Balkans - some recent developments was in focus of the WBC-RTI.info newsletter in August 2015. Related article is available here . Please find below also a selection of the topic related articles.

News

Conclusions of the 3rd Western Balkans Research and Innovation meeting held in Sarajevo on March 26-27, 2019

The third Western Balkans Research and Innovation meeting was organised in Sarajevo on March 26-27, 2019 within the framework of the European Commission’s Support for the Steering Platform (SP) on Research...
Western Balkans agree to step up the work on research infrastructure

Six Western Balkan (WB6) economies agreed to step up their work on research infrastructure in the region.
Competitiveness and Innovation in the Western Balkans: Interview with Jakob Fexer (OECD)

Mr. Jakob Fexer is a Project Manager in the OECD South East Europe (SEE) regional programme which recently released the OECD flagship publication Competitiveness in South East Europe: A Policy Outlook...

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Events

ICSD 2020 : 8th International Conference on Sustainable Development, 9 - 10 September 2020 Rome, Italy

European Center of Sustainable Development in collaboration with Canadian Institute of Technology will organize the 8th ICSD 2020 International Conference on Sustainable Development...
Smart Specialisation and Technology Transfer as Innovation Drivers for Regional Growth

The conference is organised by the European Commission European Commission under the auspices of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. It will consider the opportunities and challenges...
Regional Workshop “Space-based services for regional strategies in the digital economy: Balkan & Black Sea perspectives”

The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU have set as priorities, inter alia, to promote the digital economy, jobs for young people and security and stability in the Western Balkans.

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Organisations

Ministry of Education and Science - Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina
Regional Cooperation Council

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) was officially launched at the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Sofia, on 27 February 2008, ...
Ministry of Science and Technology - Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ministry of Science and Technology performs administrative and other professional duties which refer to: • Science-research activities; strategy of the technological development of...

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Calls

Job opportunity: Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans

The European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) undertakes and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy, fostering European integration and affirming the role of the Western Balkans in addressing...
Danube Transnational Programme - 2nd Call open! Deadline 6 June 2017

The Danube Transnational Programme is launching the second call for proposals for its priorities 1, 2 and 3. The Programme offers ...
Collaborative Grant Scheme for R&D Organizations and Private Sector Enterprises in Serbia

The Collaborative Grant Scheme Program is designed to incentivize private-sector companies and public-sector R&D organizations to engage in joint scientific research and development projects with ...

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Documents

Education and research in Western Balkan Region: An assessment of countries’ experiences and their performance in EU funded programmes

This regional study is prepared within the project “Creating synergy in Western Balkans for strengthening education, research and science”, supported by Western Balkan Fund. It is implemented by a team...
WBC-RTI.INFO Newsletters sent in 2018

WBC-RTI.INFohas prepared several newsletter issues in 2018. Thematic articles were drafted while relevant stakeholders contacted and in some cases also interviewed.
Strategy of Scientific Research Activity 2017 - 2021 (Montenegro)

Find the document here for download

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Projects

Technology Transfer Capacity Building in the Western Balkans (EU4Tech)

This initiative supports and strengthens the technology transfer and innovation ecosystem in the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the Former Yugoslav Republic...
(EVAL-INNO) Fostering Evaluation Competencies in Research, Technology and Innovation in the SEE Region (EVAL-INNO)

The key objective of EVAL-INNO is to strengthen regional as well as national evaluation capacities in order to improve framework conditions for innovation policies, programmes, institutions and projects...
WBC-INCO.NET: Western Balkan Countries INCO-NET

The Western Balkan Countries INCO-NET supported the integration of the Western Balkan countries (WBC) in the European Research Area through different activities between 2008 and 2014. The initiative...

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Kosovo* (This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.)