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The recent Innovators’ Ceremony in Podgorica, Montenegro, was a significant highlight of the Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Steering Platform on Research and Innovation 2025, celebrating tangible successes in regional research and innovation (R&I). By putting the spotlight on cross-border partnerships fostered through the Western Balkans Innovation Voucher scheme under the POLICY ANSWERS project (Work Package 5), the event showcased the region’s growing innovation potential.
The ceremony recognised and celebrated representatives from six innovative projects, part of the 15 successful initiatives funded through the voucher scheme. Administered and managed by the Agency for Innovation, Scientific and Technological Development and Entrepreneurship (INOVA) the scheme itself stands as a targeted response to the region’s economic and societal priorities, particularly those linked to the green transition and digital transformation.
Western Balkans Innovation Voucher scheme: Featured projects
The ceremony formally recognised the following six industry representatives and their academic partners, showcasing the scheme’s reach across the Western Balkans economies:
| SME and Location | Academic Partner | Project Name | Representative Receiving the Token |
| Pharmabest Group, Albania | Center for Psycho-Social and Medical Research, Research centre | Organic food supplements’ impact on mental health | Erida Cepele, Marketing manager |
| Agrounik, Bosnia and Herzegovina | University of Belgrade – Faculty of Biology | Bacterial enzyme-based solutions for sustainable lipid-rich wastewater management | Uros Djordjevic, CEO |
| GeoSoil Engineering, Kosovo* | University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Faculty of Civil engineering- Skopje | GREENPILE – Green renewable energy – Navigating the green and digital transition towards sustainable heating and cooling by integrating geothermal pile systems | Andrej Stojkoski, Early-career researcher |
| Recrewty, Montenegro | Philosophical Faculty, University of Novi Sad | SmartHire AI: Psychometric and chatbot innovations for recruitment | Danilo Djukanovic, CEO |
| Inventiko, North Macedonia | University of East Sarajevo- Faculty of Electrical engineering | Internet of Things-driven air quality monitoring integration for SECAP | Leonid Stoimenov, Professor |
| Impact, Serbia | Faculty of Electronics, University of Nis | Medical speech to text – artificial intelligence assistant | Milos Ninkovic, R&D engineer |
This handover provided visibility of how policy-driven instruments can directly nurture the regional innovation ecosystem. Moreover, by distributed to the participants to the Ministerial Meeting 2025 a Policy Lessons from the Western Balkans Innovation Voucher Pilot, facilitating co-design processes, and supporting capacity-building, POLICY ANSWERS continues to enhance the impact and drive transformative change within the regional research and innovation landscape.
Ceremony highlights
The ceremony, held in Podgorica on 20 October 2025, was meticulously planned to focus on high-level recognition of the innovators’ achievements. After a brief introduction of each research or innovation project by Signe Ratso, Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, each innovator or their academic partner received a token of recognition, along with a handshake and an official photo with Johann Sattler, Ambassador of the European Union to Montenegro. The awards presentation Innovators’ Ceremony was concluded with a group photo.
Immediately after the ceremony, the innovators were accompanied to a designated area for media interviews, facilitating timely coverage of their achievements and the broader impact of their projects.
Looking ahead
The successful innovators’ ceremony event in Podgorica provided compelling evidence of the Western Balkans Innovation Voucher scheme’s efficacy in fostering market-oriented R&I collaborations. The core recommendation is to institutionalise and scale up this model, transforming it from a short-term intervention into a permanent, sustainable R&I policy instrument for the Western Balkans’ future prosperity. Overall, POLICY ANSWERS aimed to use this momentum to strengthen the regional integration and generate an impactful R&I activities focused on the green transition and digital transformation.
