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As part of the POLICY ANSWERS project, a short-term fellowship was undertaken in Austria, with the aim of exploring effective models for fostering collaboration between academia and business. The fellowship was organised in close cooperation with the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and the National Agency for Scientific Research and Innovation (NASRI), focused particularly on joint scientific projects and the mechanisms that support them. Marsela Cobo and Imirjon Peza from NASRI were part of the fellowship in Vienna.
This activity contributes to building capacities in research and innovation (R&I) management among project partners, while also strengthening collaboration within the POLICY ANSWERS consortium. The fellowship was coordinated by ZSI, which had been allocated the travel budget and supported the implementation process.
The central theme of the fellowship was the engagement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in research and development (R&D) projects. The programme offered the opportunity to examine Austria’s regulatory framework and practical approaches to financing science-business initiatives, with the aim of identifying transferable practices that could benefit Albania, particularly in enhancing the management of national grant programmes.
Key objectives included:
- Gaining insights into effective strategies for involving SMEs in R&D projects, a core priority for national innovation systems.
- Learning from FFG and other Austrian institutions about the full project lifecycle, covering guidelines, evaluation criteria, monitoring practices, and administrative procedures.
- Participating in meetings and institutional visits to SMEs with a proven track record in successful academia-business collaboration.
The experience provided valuable learning on how to support innovation through structured collaboration, with a view to adapting these lessons to Albania’s evolving research and innovation ecosystem. Below you’ll find the fellowship report.