Smart Specialisation Newsletter

The central objective is to better understand how interregional collaboration can support systemic transformation. This will be an online workshop to be held on Wednesday 14 December 2022 from 10.00 to 17.00 hrs. By invitation only (PRI Pilot participants).

On October 18 and 19, 2022, the Marriott hotel in Skopje was the chosen venue for the international conference “Implementing the Western Balkan Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport – Support to Smart Specialisation in the Western Balkans and Türkiye”. More than 100 participants attended the event including high officials, policy makers, innovation practitioners, representatives from start-ups and SMEs, academia, business society and civil organisations from the EU Enlargement region but also from the EU member states. The agenda included a diverse group of panel discussions that sought to elaborate on the benefits of the implementation of EU-style innovation policies, with particular focus on Smart Specialisation in the EU Enlargement region concerning the Western Balkan Agenda on Innovation, Research, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

The mapping exercise described in this technical report contributes to gather evidence based information as a basis to select and define the priority areas of the Smart Specialisation Strategy of Albania. This study supports a first identification of the economic and productive domains that might be considered in the selection of the priority areas for a Smart Specialisation Strategy in Albania, and it includes both quantitative and a qualitative analyses.

The Eastern Partnership is a specific Eastern dimension to the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Through the ENP, the EU works with its southern and eastern neighbours to achieve the closest possible political association and the greatest possible degree of economic integration. The purpose of this study is to contribute to evidence-informed research and innovation policy, in particular the development of Smart Specialisation Strategies. The study presents a solid basis for these processes in the Eastern Partnership region by offering an extensive quantitative analysis of national-level potential in the economy, innovation, science and technology. The report also indicates the evidence-informed areas for knowledge-based economic cooperation to support bilateral and region-wide initiatives.