Project, network, platform; ongoing

EUSDR Priority Area(s): PA 7 Knowledge Society

A newly-launched (March 2022) Horizon Europe funded project, called POLICY ANSWERS, will deploy a vast array of tools – from high-level meetings to information services, from launching pilot activities to policy recommendations on key innovation issues – to support better integration of the Western Balkans into the European Research Area (ERA).

The project aims to continue and scale up the common efforts of the European Union and the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – for cooperation on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport. The goal is to ultimately foster stability and prosperity while strengthening the European perspective of the Region.

The focus on the Western Balkans allows for a contribution both to the EUSAIR as well as EUSDR (as foreseen in the project plan).

Led by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) in Vienna and involving 14 partner institutions, the project builds on the solid ground created by successful past experiences, including WBC-INCO.NET and Danube-INCO.NET. From the Danube Region, the following countries are represented in the project: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.

In the past years, the Western Balkans Steering Platforms (WB SPs) for Research & Innovation and Education & Training have played a central role in stimulating, monitoring, and supporting the cooperation in research, education, and innovation between the European Union Member States, the European Commission and the Western Balkans in EU funded programmes and beyond. Regular platform meetings, including at the Ministerial level, have brought together a multitude of stakeholders to identify common priorities, discuss the latest policy and reforming measures, decide on spin-off activities and follow-up measures as well as on topics for regional cooperation with EU assistance.

Past efforts supported by the EU have also built widely-used information hubs and services: from websites and social media to monthly newsletters, which provide high-quality targeted information on research, technology and innovation in, with and for the Western Balkans but also touch upon education, culture, youth and sports.

Objectives: The project will run until February 2026 and focus, among many things, on the following activities:

• Organising policy dialogue events such as Ministerial and Steering Platform meetings and ad-hoc policy coordination meetings, offering room for exchange about policy implementation.
• Supplying an information hub and web platform, westernbalkans-infohub.eu, addressing R&I, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport in the Western Balkans to enable better information sharing, create opportunities for joint actions and get the WB closer to EU policy making.
• Carrying out analytical activities such as mapping of relevant institutions, programmes, initiatives, needs and common priorities in the Western Balkans, and monitoring ongoing activities related to the implementation of the WB Agenda
• Designing informed policy recommendations to decision makers in the Region, addressing the EU’s key priorities such as: digitalisation, green economy and health, and aligning them.
• Implementing regional pilot activities which reach out directly to academia, industry and civil society, in order to strengthen links between academia and industry in the WB region, and to support mobility of researchers within the area. Targeted actions will also be taken to increase the visibility of Western Balkans research infrastructures in the wider European research landscape.

At all stages of the project, special emphasis will be put on the inclusion of so-far underrepresented groups and the coordination with key stakeholders and international organisations.

With its ambitious and wide-ranging work programme, POLICY ANSWERS will have an impact on science, economy and society, thus contributing to a faster recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and to the digital and green transitions in the Western Balkans.

POLICY ANSWERS will support policy makers, researchers, students, innovators, entrepreneurs, underrepresented groups and therefore improve the framework conditions for building the knowledge society, especially in the non-EU countries of the Danube Region. The project activities contribute to the PA7 actions and targets with its strong focus on the following: policy dialogue in the R&I field, stakeholder mapping, capacity building in accordance with the identified national needs, supporting academia-industry links, improving mobility of researchers and youth, supporting open access to research infrastructure, education in the field of R&I, aligning priorities in the fields of Digital Transformation and Green Agenda.

POLICY ANSWERS will also contribute to the competitiveness of enterprises (PA 8) with its policy dialogue and policy briefs related to innovation and with regional grant scheme for supporting academia-industry links.

Finally, the project activities are in line with PA 10 in terms of supporting better coordination of funding (via policy dialogue) and strengthening institutional capacities (via capacity building activities).

Need and (expected) impact:

Policy coordination in the knowledge area is needed.

A call was launched by the European Commission and a consortium successfully applied for the funding. The background of the call is the enlargement policy and association of the Western Balkans to Horizon Europe and inclusion to the European Research Area, Higher Education Area etc.

The project implements an exchange platform similar to the previous Danube-INCO.NET mentioned under Action 1 of PA 7 in the EUSDR Action Plan.

Other relevant aspects for the EUSDR:

• Coordinating activities between WB and EU Member States, e.g. via organisation of Steering Platform meetings
• Funding coordination via pilot activities, e.g. joint regional vouchers
• Sharing of information in relation to available funding, in particular Horizon Europe, EUREKA, COST, etc.
• Strengthening cooperation across EUSDR Priority Areas (digitalisation, European Green Deal/green agenda, healthy societies)
• Increasing awareness about R&I from the target countries (partially overlapping with the Danube Region)
• Organising of activities (including a conference) bringing together business and academia
• Cooperating with stakeholders including clusters, DiH, etc.

Macro-regional dimension:

From the Danube Region, the following countries are represented in the project: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Montenegro, Serbia

Beyond the Danube Region, the following countries are represented in the project: Italy, Albania, Kosovo*, North Macedonia

Generally, the project aims to involve other EU Member States and promote the Western Balkans in the EU.

Stakeholders involved: The Project Advisory Board includes several partners from the European Commission (including DG RTD, DG JRC, DG GROW, DG REGIO, DG CNCT, DG NEAR, etc.) as well as the Regional Cooperation Council.

The project supports the organisation of Steering Platform meetings which includes several stakeholders including e.g. COST, EUREKA, CEI, Berlin Process, etc.

Budget and Funding: Estimated budget: EUR 4 993 108,75

Further information: www.westernbalkans-infohub.eu (currently still forwarded to www.wbc-rti.info on which the project builds upon)

Contact:

Ms Mag^a. Elke Dall, Senior Researcher and Project Manager, Centre for Social Innovation,

Other: The project ecosystem aims to mobilise and coordinate broader networks, act as a true info hub or respectively build a network of networks. Cooperation with EUSDR actors is therefore highly appreciated.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on Kosovo Declaration of Independence.