EU project raises profile of Western Balkans' scientific community
An EU-funded project has created a database aimed at increasing the visibility of the scientific community in the countries of the Western Balkans. The Western Balkan Database pools together information on universities, institutions and companies active in research and development (R&D) in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Using the tool, the region's scientific landscape can be searched by thematic area (as defined within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)), by organisation type and by geographical region. The aim is to help universities and companies from elsewhere in the EU to identify partners in the Western Balkans for scientific collaboration. The database was created by the ERA WESTBALKAN+ project, which seeks to accelerate the opening up of the European Research Area (ERA) to the countries in the region. The project comes into action following the signature of Memoranda of Understanding between the European Commission, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The agreement offers researchers form these countries the same rights for participation as EU Member States in all the research cooperation and supported actions funded under FP7. The project, which builds upon the achievements of a previous EU initiative (ERA WESTBALKAN), will organise training workshops and networking events for research centres wishing to participate in FP7. It will also carry out activities to help strengthen the network of national contact points (NCPs) in the region and improve their links with NCPs in other Member States and Candidate Countries.
Countries
North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Russia