1. Welcome Steering Platform on Research for Western Balkan Countries

2. What has been done since June 2013 Presentation of recent developments regarding S&T cooperation in/with the WBCs

3. European Commission Monitoring progress on EU acquis: meeting with Montenegro; Albania; Kosovo* preparing screening Serbia organising ERA workshop (12-13 November) focussed on competitive funding and labour market for researchers Preparations for Horizon 2020: Agreements for Association and support actions and synergy IPA II Regional dimension: following Regional Strategy, RCC activities and CEI.

4. EC/Joint Research Centre Main Events on Enlargement and Integration Action: 1) Study visit in Petten (NL); 2) Study Visit in Ispra (IT); 3) Workshop on Nanotechnologies in Braga (PT); Main Events on Scientific Support to Danube Strategy: 29 October 2013 Bucharest (RO) Launch of the new Project "Danube Innovation Partnership" August 2013 Approval of E&IA Activities for 2014: 54 proposals of workshops, advanced trainings and summer schools have approved for a total budget 1.7 Meuro Outlook: Workshop on hydropower and wind energy in Istanbul (TR); Meeting JRC – NCPs Enlargement Countries in Ispra (IT); Workshop Mobilising EU instruments for the financial design of transnational R&I projects in the Danube Region in Budapest (HU)

5. Albania Legislative initiatives -Business and Investment Development Strategy 2014-2020 Important events, meetings, training activities, etc. -METE – activities -ARTI – activities Development of international cooperation and actions on integration into ERA -On 2 – 6 September 2013 a delegation from Albania – ARTI, Ministry of European Integration, Ministry of Economy participated in a “Study Tour” in European Commission. Statistics - In June 2013 representatives of UNESCO organized a meeting with ARTI and INSTAT in frame of the project on R&D statistics in Albania. Outlook on the next 6 months -ARTI will organize Info Days in some Universities in Albania.

6. Bosnia and Herzegovina Funding programs of the ministries responsible for research continued in 2013 with slight increase of the budget Statistics for B&H - end of 2013 R&D; beginning of 2015 CIS for 2013-2014 (in line with EUROSTAT requirements) A number of FP promotion activities: info days, 6 round tables at the universities; in addition to implementation of the IPA project – „Capacity building“ started in January Participation at ERAC meetings, WB EDIF, response to ERA SGHRM activities: "Researchers Report - Country Profile Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2012 and 2013

7. Croatia Accession to EU Preparation for Horizon 2020 Action plan till 2015 Strategy for Science 2020 WB Research Strategy for Innovation

8. FYR of Macedonia Establishment of a National Fund for Innovation Establishment of a Department for Innovation (MES) “2nd Workshop on S3 for SEEC” Nov. 2013 Letter of interest for association “Horizon 2020” FP7 successfully completed and 94 projects funded (January 2007- July 2013) Central Register for MA and Ph.D students, studying at the top100 Universities according to the Shanghai ranking list with National support

9. Montenegro The evaluation of the proposals for establishing a pilot CoE & Publishing the Call for grants for CRDS Promotion of Science: Open Science Days and Celebration of UNESCO WSDPD Programming phase for IPA II: the MoS is actively involved in the programming within Sector 6: Competitiveness and Innovation and Sector 7: Employment, Social Policies and HRD The start of the FP7 project FOREMONT at the University of Montenegro – FEE: largest project budget granted to one of the research institutions in ME from FP research programmes MoS published the Tender for development of the main project for reconstruction of the Army Centre of Montenegro in Niksic for accommodation of the Innovative Entrepreneurial Centre "TEHNOPOLIS“

10. Serbia Personnel changes in the Ministry: - Minister Prof. dr Tomislav Jovanovic - State Secretary for Science Prof. dr Aleksandar Gajic Strategic and Legislative initiatives: -The Western Balkans Regional Research and Development (R&D) Strategy for Innovation was adopted on October 25, 2013. in Zagreb -Amendments to the Law of Innovation Activities was adopted on 25. Jun 2013 Important events: –University of Novi Sad -ceremonial opening of the Central University Building in the University Campus on September 30, 2013 –“The best technological innovation competition 2013’’, Final Competition on December 26, 2013. –Centre for Materials and Nanoscience is founded on September 6, 2013. –Science and Technology Park Zvezdara, call for start-up will be published in January 2014.

11. Austria EU Strategy for the Danube Region –Steering Group of Priority Area 7 „Knowledge Society“ –SG PA7 Working Group “DRRIF” (Danube Region Research and Innovation Fund) –Danube Region INCO.NET

12. France CROATIA - June 2013 :“MerMex” workshop (within Mistrals programme) with 40 scientists from Mediterranean region. SERBIA: next week, joint comittee for the selection of the PAVLE SAVIC projects. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - Cooperation in social and human sciences with Sarajevo University. International seminar on “ gender issue in religions”

13. Germany BMBF-Regional Call running until December 31, 2013; research cooperation with partners from SEE countries; new call under prep. BMBF and DLR/International Bureau are actively engaged in WBC- INCO.NET BMBF-Call “Ideas competition for the establishment and development of innovative R&D networks with partners in the Danube States”; encourages stronger links between countries upstream and downstream the Danube; contributes to EUSDR; funding of 31 proposals; first projects have started; interest in co- funding by several partner countries Ulm Follow-up Working Group met in October 2013 in Bonn; follows up the Ministerial Conference of Danube Countries (July 2012, Ulm/Germany); strengthen cooperation of Danube countries, first concrete steps opening up BMBF call to partner country’s co-funding BMBF: member of the „DRRIF WG“ (led by Austria) in EUSDR PA7

14. Hungary  Mobility Programme  Structural Funds StudentsLecturer/Researcher AlbaniaXX FYR of MacedoniaX- MontenegroXX

15. The National Innovations Strategy 2013-2020 developed jointly by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Economic Development, with support of OECD and funds of European Commission, has been submitted in Government for endorsement; Launching of Conference Horizon 2020; 165 participants from Kosovo* and the region were present, coming from governmental institutions, research institutions, business/industry, civil society organizations, etc. Establishment of ICT Diaspora Advisory Board, with support of ICT KOS-EU project (an FP7 funded project); Support to 41 PhD, and 3 post-doc scholarships abroad, 30 outgoing and 3 incoming research mobilities; New cooperation framework (2014-2018) with US Higher Education Institutions; Kosovo* * This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

16. Poland State visit of the Polish President and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to FYR of Macedonia, 10 September 2013 Montenegro - Agreement on cooperation in culture, education and science signed on 26 October 2012, entered into force on 6 November 2013 FYR of Macedonia - the Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Higher Education was signed on 10 September 2013 Serbia - the Agreement on cooperation in the field of culture, education and science was signed on 23-24 October 2013 Ongoing legislative work on the renewed/new bilateral cooperation agreements in culture, education and science with Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina

17. Romania New Ministry of National Education (MEN) from December 2012; The former National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS) is dissolved and its activities, specialized structures and staff were taken over by MEN as a General Directorate for Research Programs, Technological Development and Innovation It was completed the evaluation of the research system (institutional, programme, project levels) and the universities, based on recommendations of Technopolis and WB Reports on RDI system; Eureka projects between RO and WBC: CR E! 6774 FAIR, FR – CR – RO, 2012 – 2014, 1.76 M€; E! 6774 FAIR SB E! 8686 VEG4EGG, RO – SB – SI, 2013-2016, 1.23 M€; E! 8686 VEG4EGG E! 5415 NEWCOMAT, LT-SB-RO-PL, 2011-2014, 1.2 M€; E! 5415 NEWCOMAT E! 4570 PRO-FACTORY IPCTECH, SB–AT–RO–SI–PL, 2010-13, 1.59 M€; E! 4570 PRO-FACTORY IPCTECH E! 5851 FeVal, SI-SB-RO, 2011-2013, 1.01 M€; E! 5851 FeVal still under discussion with Serbian authorities an Agreement in the fields of education, science, culture, youth and sports ! Letters sent to WBC ministers responsible for S&T announcing ELI-NP job opening and invinting the WBC scientific community to apply Approval of the establishment of the International Centre for Advanced Training And Research in Physics as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO – one of its objectives: provide facilities and opportunities for advanced training and research for scientists from Central and Eastern European countries

18. Slovenia Programs for S&T cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are in process of realisation; Calls for proposals for S&T cooperation for the period 2014 – 2015 with Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro were published this year; Joint board meetings are planned to be held at the end of the year 2013 (with BiH) and at the beginning of 2014 with other countries; MIZŠ is actively engaged in WBC-INCO.NET; MIZŠ will continue regional cooperation in the upcoming DANUBE-INCO.NET.

19. Turkey TUBITAK’s experience on brain circulation activities were shared with WBC’s on TAIEX Multi-beneficiary workshop on intellectual emigration which was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 10– 11 September 2013. On 12 – 13 of November 2013 a meeting was held in DG RTD premises in order to put forward the latest developments of the EU policy on Research and Innovation (acquis chapter 25) in preparation of WBC and Turkey’s EU membership.

20. CEI  Meeting of the CEI Focal Points in Trieste (July 9-10, 2013) accompanied by prominent scientists in disciplines/strenghts of the CEI S&T Network  CEI Ministerial Meeting on S&T (October 29, 2013) on: Developments related to CERIC Consortium (Synchrotron + FEL) CEI as focal point for own members vs. PPP for a Bio-based Economy CEI Project to promote Science, Technology Transfer and Innovation in Member Countries by facilitating the participation of their scientific communities to Horizon 2020 through a variable geometry of support from various EC funds according to respective eligibility.  CEI participation in three new FP7 project related to advanced biofuels : S2BIOM, on cost efficient supply chain for optimized use of non food biomass through a dedicated digital decision making support tool EBTP-SABS, on support of the European biofuels technology platform Danube-Inco.net, on R&D to meet challenges of a bio-based economy

21. EVAL-INNO Trainings weeks Podgorica, Belgrade (after Sofia, Budapest), 16 countries, 125 participants Evaluation standards in Serbian – 6 th language… Benchmarking of 6 RTDI organisations (A, BG, GR, HU, ME, RS) 3 pilot evaluations (RS, ME, HU) Workshop 15-16 Jan 2014, Budapest Final conference 25-26 March 2014, Vienna Ownership SEE: Visits AL, BiH, CR, FYROM, K*, RO, SLO, SK

22. SEE-ERA.Net PLUS 23 JERP projects, 97 partners 2,876,315.40€ spent (95,7% of contracted) Last payments and repayments of unspent funds Information letters to funding partners Final reporting (soon ready) Remaining € - What to do? –Evaluation –Publication of Results –Networking grants –Repayment to funders Summary of JERP outputsTotal Publications in international peer reviewed journals63 Publications in scientific journals (review by editors)36 Other publications directed to the interested public43 Own publications with primary scientific audience20 Conference papers, posters, meeting abstracts182 Databases created11 Speeches, workshops and/or sessions held at conferences 89 Own event organization40 Research staff exchange59 Student exchange13 Other research related travel389 Developed new/improved products/technologies18 (planned) joint patent application(s)5 Contribution to standardization (ISO)1 Joint applications to other funding schemes16

23. UNESCO Statistics: Regional strategy for STI statistics in the WBC, including action plan (with UIS)_STI Pilot survey in Albania completed for private sector STI communication: Regional Conference on Science Promotion and School on Science Communication (Belgrade, with Serbian Center for Promotion of Science), World Science Day, Italy & Montenegro Renewable Energy: School in Dubrovnik and Forum in Moscow (October, REENFOR) Disaster Risk Reduction: two EU-FP7 projects (Albania); Network and UNESCO Center of Skopje Networking: SEENET.MTP, SEE-PhytoChemNet, UNESCO Chairs Forum (1st Forum); UNESCO Centers in Bucarest

24. WBC-INCO.NET Amendment officially approved as of October 7 th, 2013 –Prolongation of the project until April 2014 –New activities ongoing Preparations for final publication, final conference and brokerage event (March 27/28, 2014 in Vienna) Workshops and events organised in this period –“Surviving the EC Audit” – Pitfalls and Problems, Survival and Success Stories (WBC-INCO.NET capacity building workshop) –“2nd WBC-INCO.NET Training Workshop on Smart Specialisation for South East European countries” –4 Task Force Meetings (4 innovation schemes to be adapted to WBC) Strategic Innovation (Podgorica, Oct 2-3, 2013) for MNE Innovation voucher (Zagreb, Nov 21-22, 2013) for HR and Kosovo* Innovation Officer (Belgrade, Dec 3-4, 2013) for SR and BiH Planned: Soft Landing (Tirana, Feb 19-21, 2014 tbc) for Al and FYROM –Seminar ”Are you puzzled with ERA?” – Austria, Nov 18-19, 2013

25. Thank you for your attention!