The eight meeting of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) panel on research and innovation was held on 10 December 2020 in an online format. 81 people have registered for the meeting from the six EaP countries (41 representatives of 6 EaP Partner countries), representatives of 8 EU Member States (CZ, DE, FR, GR, LI, PL, RO, SK), 3 Civil Society Forum representatives, and others. The panel was organised following a cross-DG matrix approach and a number of services across the Commission were involved to deliver presentations, promote initiatives, and increase awareness on several EU instruments to support cooperation and growth across the region.
The focus was on the proposed new R&I EaP post 2020 deliverables: (i) continued reforms to improve the resilience of R&I systems, (ii) increased Gross domestic expenditure on R & D (GERD), (iii) increased Horizon Europe participation as well as (iv) rise in the Global Innovation Index scores, and (v) progress on Smart specialization strategies (S3) and technology transfer roadmaps.
All six EaPs took the floor highlighting largely supporting the proposed deliverables and expressing their appreciation for the achievements in Horizon 2020. All underlined the central role of National contact points (NCPs), as well as the trainings that the EC provided through the Service facility, and hope for this support to be continued. Arranging specific calls for the EaP under Horizon Europe was requested on several occasions.
JRC presented the ongoing work with the technical transfer roadmaps and smart specialization (S3). Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia presented their experience and progress in this regard, sharing best practices and lessons learnt with the other Eastern partners.
The European Commission outlined current and future opportunities for the EaP Partner countries, such as Horizon Europe, including association thereto, the future MSCA, and COST programme.
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- Publication date
- 14 December 2020
- Author
- Directorate-General for Research and Innovation