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Over the course of four years, POLICY ANSWERS worked closely with research and innovation stakeholders across all six Western Balkans economies. From capacity-building programmes and Horizon Europe preparation to policy dialogue, Smart Specialisation Strategies and pilot schemes, project partners built deep, institutionalised relationships that extended well beyond individual events or training sessions.
The six articles below present highlights from this cooperation in each economy, illustrating the diversity of approaches, the range of actors involved and the concrete results that have been taken up and embedded in national institutions and policy processes.
Albania
Led by NASRI, stakeholder cooperation in Albania was broad-based and strategically linked to EU integration requirements. Key highlights include a major Horizon Europe outreach programme reaching over 500 participants, support for Gender Equality Plan adoption at eight universities, and facilitation of the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process for Smart Specialisation Strategy implementation. The final POLICY ANSWERS event in Tirana provided a further platform for engagement with national and European actors. Read more…
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Partners UNSA and UNIBL maintained sustained engagement with entity and cantonal ministries throughout the project, translating policy dialogue into concrete institutional outcomes. Highlights include a study visit to Ljubljana enabling direct exchange between BiH and Slovenian policy makers, the successful preparation of the Twinning project RETLAMI-SEE (awarded the maximum score of 15/15), and the institutionalisation of Open Science and IPR practices at both universities. Read more…
Kosovo
RIINVEST operationalised a multi-layered stakeholder strategy connecting ministries, universities, business associations and civil society into concrete policy and implementation processes. A Stakeholders Forum met twice yearly to monitor progress and feed inputs into national policy. Training on Horizon Europe proposal preparation reached 50 researchers, and RIINVEST’s analytical work contributed directly to strategy drafting, legislative inputs and the first-ever ranking of Kosovo in the WEF global competitiveness index. Read more…
Montenegro
The Science and Technology Park of Montenegro (STP-ME) led a practice-oriented and institutionally embedded capacity-building programme. Training on Horizon Europe proposal preparation exceeded participant targets and was subsequently adopted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation into its own regular offer. Further highlights include a redesigned circular economy training programme reaching 95 participants across four thematic workshops, and the introduction of the Inno-Bootcamp supporting 22 participants from academia, startups and innovation organisations. Read more…
North Macedonia
Partners MIR Foundation and INOVA embedded capacity building within institutional policy processes, with particularly strong results in Smart Specialisation Strategy implementation. Over 150 quadruple helix stakeholders were engaged in refining the S3 Action Plan for 2026-2027. The CB programme also supported digital transformation workshops reaching 43 SME representatives, a ScaleUp Bootcamp for 25 participants, and the TvinTek Connect conference bringing together over 100 actors from academia, industry and policy. Read more…
Serbia
The Institute Mihajlo Pupin (IMP) built a dense, cross-sectoral and cumulative stakeholder network spanning policy makers, chambers of commerce, science and technology parks and SMEs. Digital transformation training reached 138 SME representatives across multiple regions and has since been embedded into the regular service portfolio of EEN Serbia and the Chamber’s Education Centre. Workshops on programme evaluation targeted civil servants and programme owners simultaneously, directly supporting evidence-based policy making and Smart Specialisation Strategy preparation. Read more…