Nurturing research and innovation in Southeast Europe

From knowledge to impact:
Nurturing research and innovation in Southeast Europe

By Science Business
Public conference

On October 21, Science| Business will organise its first-ever event in Montenegro to bring together leaders and decision makers from the region and beyond, and from the worlds of science, policy, industry and finance, to air bold policy ideas, share good practices and develop recommendations to optimise the regional impact of EU instruments in the years ahead. 

Preliminary agenda:

14.00 Registration and welcome coffee 
14.30 Welcome 

• Edit Herczog, Chair, Widening Initiative, Science Business 

14.45 Keynote:  

• Sabine Henzler, Director, Strategy and Impact, Joint Research Centre, European Commission
  

15.00  Pitch sessions

To showcase the talent in the region, we invited representatives of EU supported projects and initiatives, with the aim to highlight the tangible, on-the-ground impact; celebrate the success; and inspire students, young researchers and other stakeholders. 

• Rana Sanyal, Co-Founder & CSO, RS Research; EIC European Prize for Women Innovators Winner
• Uroš Đorđević, Western Balkans Innovation Voucher “Sustainable Lipid-Rich Wastewater Management”; Chief Executive Officer, Agrounik 
• Erida Çepelë, Western Balkan Innovation Voucher “Organic food supplements impact on mental health”; Marketing Manager, PharmaBest

15.30 Panel Session I – Branching and ripening of deep-rooted SEE collaboration

While EU policies and programmes already generated several benefits for the local academic and research ecosystems, ambitions and expectations tend to run higher, and as a result may overlook how far we came. The panel will centre on the symbiosis of existing accomplishment and future growth prospects. 

• Andrijana Tasevska, Leader, POLICY ANSWERS Work Package, INOVA 
• Çağrı Yıldırım, Head of EU Framework Programmes Department, TÜBİTAK  
• Branka Zizic, EIT Community Officer, EIT Montenegro Community
  

Moderator: Florin Zubașcu, Executive Editor, Science|Business 

16.15 Pitch sessions 

• Mirela Alhasani, Member, Management Committee Multi-task, Multilingual, Multi-modal Language Generation (Multi3Generation) COST Action 
• Vladimir Mrkajić, Science Communication Coordinator & Management Committee Member, FruitCREWS, COST Action; Head of Research and Development, InoSens

16.35 Coffee break 

17.05 From knowledge to impact: data insights to support the journey in Southeast Europe

• Marat Fatkhullin, Vice President, Global Strategic Networks, Elsevier
• Anne-Catherine Rota, Strategic Engagement Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Elsevier

17.25 Keynotes  

• Åse Gornitzka, President, COST Association
• Martin Kern, Director, European Institute of Innovation and Technology
  

17.45 Panel Session II – Nurturing research and innovation in the ERA

With the European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025-2027 in place, and the Horizon Europe 2028-2034 proposal planning to complement national efforts with EU level funding, the panel will deliberate the opportunities and risks of integration efforts for the region. 

• Robert Blatnik, Head of Office for Substantive Project Support, Technology Transfer and Innovation, Jožef Stefan Institute 
• Sanja Damjanović, Senior Researcher, GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research 

Moderator: Ágota David, Policy Officer, International cooperation – Europe and Americas, DG RTD, European Commission 

18.30 Closing remarks

• Edit Herczog, Chair, Widening Initiative, Science Business 

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Official Source – Credit:  www.news.un.org – By Maria Carlino