The European Commission published an agenda and a study on the further development of research, innovation and education in the Western Balkan region.
The EU has developed with the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia) a forward-looking agenda, including innovation, research, and education. The Western Balkan countries have a perspective to accede to the EU and are therefore ‘enlargement countries’. The agenda outlines a comprehensive, long-term strategy for cooperation. It proposes actions, which will contribute to the region’s economic and societal development and cooperation. The approach promotes scientific excellence, the reform of the region’s education systems, creates further opportunities for the youth and helps to prevent brain drain.
The agenda builds on three main pillars: political, thematic and regional. The political part aims towards a sustainable future by stimulating an economy that supports the recovery and job creation. In this context, it is important to reflect on the strategic importance of the region and support its integration process through the increased EU engagement. In the next step, the EU supports the association to all EU programmes, which cover research, innovation, education, culture, youth and sport. The thematic agenda is set up towards a closer alignment with the EU strategic priorities. It aims to transform the national R&I eco-systems, counteracting climate change and support the digital transformation. In this context, the agenda aims for the promotion of the European Green Deal in the Western Balkans. The last, regional pillar, focuses on a closer regional economic integration through planned investments in human capital development and digital transformation. Therefore, the quality of education and training should be enhanced and mobility and connectivity of the region should be further improved. Two leading projects of the EU and the Western Balkans are ANTARES and implementing Smart Specialisation Strategies. ANTARES aims at developing a European centre of excellence for advanced technologies in sustainable agriculture and food security while the Smart Specialisation Strategies focuses on enhancing the innovation potential in the Western Balkan region.
In addition, in summer 2021 a strategic foresight study in the Western Balkans was conducted. The corresponding report was published on 11 October 2021. Representatives of the Western Balkan and the European Commission (EC) decided in summer 2020 to launch a study on the possible future of R&I policies in the region. The study was conducted using a strategic foresight approach, to support policy-makers in creating an enabling environment for R&I policies to thrive and decide on priorities for strategic investments for the future. The report bases on two online surveys with different stakeholders from the regions, expert interviews and nine virtual workshops to harness experts’ views about the futures of R&I in the region. Throughout the process, three plausible scenarios on how R&I policies could evolve in the region in 2035 were co-created. The scenarios aim to sensitise policy-makers in the Western Balkan region for actions to be taken today to shape the desired future. In addition, the report points out roadmaps for the different Balkan countries. These roadmaps are strategic plans that describes the further steps a country needs to take to achieve stated outcomes and goals.
The first scenario described in the report focuses on the potential that Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have become members of the EU by 2035. Simultaneously, access to the common market has boosted cooperation in R&I beyond borders. In this case, the countries can benefit from different tailored EU frameworks and programmes and support initiatives, especially also in the R&I field. Scenario 2, which is called “looking beyond EU borders”. It constitutes a situation in which accession negotiations have come to a standstill, resulting in a cooling relationship between an increasingly preoccupied EU with itself due to internal and external shocks and the Western Balkans for whom the integration possibility has lost its appeal. The final scenario focuses on a pro-business attitude that facilitates exchanges and cooperation between various R&I actors in the Western Balkans. This scenario is named “Putting Business First”. The approach overcomes previous political differences and strengthens free trade. The scenarios were created to support policy-makers to bring the ambitious agenda into concrete results. The scenarios shall help to ideate, shape and realise crucial elements of the ambitions that policy-makers in the Western Balkan have formulated. The results offer them a variety of potential developments and offer a forum to contemplate approaches to implement strategic priorities that will benefit all citizens in the region.
The agenda and the conducted study highlight the importance of the Western Balkan countries for the EU and the close collaboration between the different actors to find a joint approach to further develop the region.