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Held on 19 March 2026 at the Tirana International Hotel & Conference Center, the final public event of POLICY ANSWERS brought together partners, policymakers and stakeholders to present the project’s main outcomes and their contribution to the Western Balkans Agenda.
Daniel Pirushi, Director General of the Albanian National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation (NASRI), which hosted the event, said: «On behalf of NASRI, we highly appreciate the successful organisation of the final event and the overall achievements of the project. The activities carried out have had a very positive impact in Albania, particularly in strengthening institutional capacities, supporting participation in Horizon Europe, and improving the availability and use of data for research and innovation policies, including contributions to the European Innovation Scoreboard. The project has also helped foster closer cooperation between national stakeholders and European partners, creating a strong foundation for future initiatives».
The event opened with capacity building highlights from each of the six WB economies, presented by project partners and experts through a series of lightning talks. This was followed by key results and policy lessons from cross-cutting activities: the Western Balkans Innovation Vouchers; the Western Balkans Mobility Scheme; progress in aligning priorities and success and opportunities in Horizon Europe; progress in implementing the Western Balkans Agenda; Policy Dialogue.
Representatives of the European Commission, Mina Stareva and Bernhard Fabianek, then shared strategic policy insights and lessons from the past period, and discussed perspectives for future collaboration.
The floor was then opened to cooperation partners and stakeholders from the audience, who joined the discussion sharing their perspectives.
The event closed with an introduction to the follow-up project POLICY ENLARGE, highlighting its objectives, planned activities and anticipated contributions to research and innovation development in the Western Balkans and other enlargement countries.
Towards a Stronger European Research Area: Western Balkans Integration is Underway
The integration of the Western Balkans (WB) into the European Research Area (ERA) is an ongoing process. The final event of the POLICY ANSWERS project, held in Tirana on 19 March 2026, confirmed a structural convergence in practice.
Over four years, the project contributed to strengthening cooperation mechanisms, institutional capacities and policy coordination across the region. It demonstrated that integration into the ERA is not achieved through formal accession alone, but through capacity building and sustained cooperation.
From alignment to participation
A key outcome highlighted in Tirana is the transition from policy alignment to active participation. The WB are not only adapting to EU frameworks, but increasingly contributing to shared policy agendas, engaging in Horizon Europe projects and partnerships and building research and innovation ecosystems capable of interacting with EU-level instruments.
Bernhard Fabianek, Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, commented: «POLICY ANSWERS was the oil in the machinery that made possible what ten years ago was unimaginable. EU accession is now on the table. Enlargement is just happening. The integration into the framework program — I would say it is done».
This evolution is reflected in growing participation rates, improved proposal quality and stronger institutional readiness. In several cases, organisations in the region moved from being project partners to taking on coordination roles, signalling increased maturity of the research and innovation systems.
Policy dialogue and capacity building
A central legacy of POLICY ANSWERS is the establishment of structured and continuous policy dialogue at regional level. The project was instrumental in bringing together ministries and high-level policy actors, facilitating joint priority setting and shifting from fragmented national approaches to a coordinated regional positioning within the ERA, thus enabling common strategic orientations.
The project helped to bridge the gap between policy design and implementation, translate EU-level frameworks into national processes, accompany policy instruments with operational tools and anchor reforms in measurable indicators.
Capacity building emerged as a core transformation mechanism. Across the region, POLICY ANSWERS strengthened skills for proposal development and project implementation, supported the creation of institutional structures such as project management offices and governance mechanisms and improved policy design as well as monitoring and evaluation capacities.
In this context, targeted support to businesses and public institutions contributed to improved access to EU funding, stronger academia-industry collaboration and more effective policy implementation frameworks.
Evidence-based policy-making and integrated ecosystems
The project demonstrated the importance of evidence-based policy-making: through analytical work, policy briefs and monitoring tools, it contributed to better understanding system performance and gaps, enabling more informed decision-making processes.
It supported the development of more integrated ecosystems by fostering dialogue between academia, industry, public administration and civil society, supporting entrepreneurial discovery and promoting cross-sectoral priorities such as green transition, digitalisation and health. This led to the emergence of more structured coordination mechanisms, including quadruple helix approaches and strategic advisory platforms.
At the same time, political reflections highlighted that participation alone is not sufficient. Sustained investment, institutional reforms and stronger national frameworks remain critical to ensure long-term impact.
Looking ahead: continuity and scaling up
The outcomes of POLICY ANSWERS are expected to continue through its successor project POLICY ENLARGE, ensuring continuity of policy dialogue, scaling up of successful instruments and deeper integration into EU research and innovation programmes.
The next phase will focus on consolidating results and accelerating integration pathways, building on the networks, tools and trust established over the past four years. Mina Stareva, Deputy Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission, said: «There are lots of challenges but also opportunities in this common journey. By thanking POLICY ANSWERS today I would also like to wish a very impactful and successful collaboration to POLICY ENLARGE in the three years to come».
Read our interview with POLICY ANSWERS coordinator Elke Dall on the project’s key achievements and lessons learned.
Browse all POLICY ANSWERS policy briefs and reports on the project page.