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Research and innovation
News article18 December 2019Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

7th meeting of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Panel on Research and Innovation

On Friday 13 December the 7th meeting of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Panel on Research and Innovation (EaP Panel on R&I) took place at the Hotel Crowne Plaza Hotel in Brussels. The meeting was chaired by Anne Haglund-Morrissey, acting Head of Unit, Horizon Europe Association unit (DG R&I 0.5), on behalf of the European Commission (EC), DG Research and Innovation (DG R&I). There were around 50 participants from all the 6 EaP countries, including representatives from Governmental institutions, academia and civil society. A number of services across the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) were involved to deliver presentations, promote initiatives, and increase awareness on EU instruments that support cooperation and growth across the region.

It was concluded that in order to strengthen the participation of EaP countries in Horizon 2020, it is particularly important for them to continue to:

  • build up and strengthen the capacity to apply to calls for proposals
  • progress on the agenda to reform and modernise their national R&I systems
  • invest more in R&I
  • increase the regional dimension and prioritisation at local level through Smart Specialisation and technology transfers.

The need for defining smart specialisation strategies was notably indicated as critical in the different peer-reviews already conducted (Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia), either through the Horizon 2020 Policy Support Facility (PSF) or other frameworks such as the INCONET EaP. The need to increase the competitiveness of the national research systems was mentioned as a key element hampering to reap the full potential of the R&I capacity across the Eastern Partnership. Additional funds to support research are equally critical as part of this modernisation process.

Details

Publication date
18 December 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation