EU and Western Balkans deepen cooperation on innovation, research, education, culture, youth and sport

Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth met with Ministers from the Western Balkans in Skopje and in a series of meetings that highlighted the joint efforts on implementing the Western Balkans Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

The representatives reaffirmed their commitment to intensifying cooperation for stronger integration of the Western Balkans in the European Education Area, in the European Research Area and in the European Innovation Agenda. The EU is aiming to bring the Western Balkans closer to the EU and it created a set of tools and instruments to speed up the region’s convergence. The EU’s latest initiative, the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans includes support for strengthening innovation, the green and digital transitions and offering further education opportunities to young people.

Research and innovation

The Ministers discussed the role of the European Research Area and the European Innovation Agenda, which all the Western Balkan partners can fully access, to foster, attract and retain talents through scaling up of the skills required for innovation.

The Western Balkan partners have increased resources for research and innovation, particularly for research infrastructures, science and technology parks, academia-business cooperation facilitating technology transfer, and providing broad sets of innovation support measures. 400 projects in the region are receiving in total €140 million of funding under the EU’s research and innovation programme.

Priorities stemming from Smart Specialisation Strategies, developed by most Western Balkan partners, will generate synergies within the economies and within the region, while creating the environment for talent development and retention.

The Western Balkan countries participating in the EU DIGITAL programme will create their own Digital Innovation Hubs and take part in the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), which are one-stop shops supporting companies and public sector organisations in responding to digital challenges and becoming more competitive. 18 EDIHs from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine succeeded in the first call for proposals and they are invited to join the EDIH network. By 2025 each country will have operational EDIHs ready to support companies and the public sector in the green and digital transitions.

Underpinning the green transition priorities and advancing the implementation of the Green Agenda for Western Balkans would accelerate the region’s convergence with the EU. Three cities in the region – Elbasan, Podgorica, and Sarajevo – are examples of a new city governance model able to push a systemic transformation towards climate neutrality. They aim to be climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 while acting as experimentation and innovation hubs enabling other cities in the region to follow suit.

The recent study on air quality in Western Balkans cities, produced by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, provides important insights into the sources and impacts of air pollution, which is a major challenge in the region. The findings will help national and local authorities develop effective strategies to lower pollution abatement.

Education

Ministerial discussions focused on building a strong link between education and innovation. Several key policy initiatives already contribute to this aim, including the European Education Area, in particular, the European Strategy for Universities, the New European Innovation Agenda and the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027.

The Enhanced Partnership with the Western Balkans under the Erasmus+ programme extends to education organisations and institutions in all the Western Balkans (i.e. including those not associated with the programme). This gives them the possibility to take part in strategic actions such as the European Universities initiative, which brings together 64 alliances of higher education institutions. Expanding initiatives such as the Regional Youth Cooperation Office, Girls Go Circular and encouraging Digital Education Hackathons, will play a pivotal role in advancing youth participation in the green and digital transition through education and skills development. Particular attention was given to youth, skills development, and upskilling the workforce, especially in the deep-tech areas.

Culture

The Western Balkans Ministerial Platform on Culture, launched in 2022, focuses on the cultural and creative sectors in the region. These sectors can fully benefit from the opportunities offered by the Creative Europe programme, including the Culture Moves Europe mobility scheme, which supports the mobility of artists and cultural professionals, and the European Capital of Culture.

Since 2022, the cultural and creative sectors of Western Balkans have also benefited from the Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans action, a large programme led by UNESCO with the EU’s support. The extension of the European Heritage Hub to the Western Balkans is another concrete example of our commitment to strengthening regional cooperation.