The partners of the POLICY ANSWERS project have had the chance to present in several of the Joint Research and Innovation Committee meetings in the Western Balkans already. On October 17, our colleague Katarina Krečeva from the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development (FITD) in North Macedonia, gave a brief presentation on “Update on the implementation of National Support Measures on research and innovation and planned steps forwards”. Katarina presented an update on the support measures FITD is implementing. She also emphasized the valuable experience the Fund is getting from participating as a member of consortia in the POLICY ANSWERS project. Her focus was on the building of capacities of FITD to participate in Horizon Europe projects, hoping to get involved in more similar actions related to the strengthening of the national innovation ecosystem and connecting it to the common EU innovation ecosystem in future, as well as setting an example for other public institutions to follow.
Back-to-back with the Joint Committee Meeting, the delegation of the European Commission (DG R&I) also visited the premises of FITD where the director Mr. Festim Halili expressed the commitment to support national actors to boost participation in the European Union R&I funded programmes.