POLICY ANSWERS focuses on the research and innovation (R&I) policy and governance systems, while also covering the aspects of education, culture, youth and sports. In the next four years, the project will monitor and support policy coordination within the EU-WB cooperation and will support the Western Balkans in strengthening their potential for successful participation in regional and multilateral research and innovation activities, to promote regional cooperation in R&I and to support networking and access to information and excellence.

POLICY ANSWERS addresses these objectives through targeted project activities:

Organising policy dialogue events (i.e. Ministerial and Steering Platform meetings; ad-hoc policy coordination meetings), offering room for exchange about policy implementation;

Carrying out analytical activities such as mapping of relevant institutions, programmes, initiatives, needs and common priorities in the WB; monitoring ongoing activities at different levels related to the implementation of the WB Agenda and progress made related to ERA integration; providing strategic informed recommendations for policy making and agenda setting;

Providing and coordinating capacity building and pilot actions in the WB to contribute to the region’s EU integration process and to strengthen their innovation ecosystems;

Designing informed policy recommendations to decision makers in the region in the areas of R&I, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport in addressing the EU’s key priorities such as digitalization, green economy and health and aligning them;

Implementing regional pilot activities, which reach out directly to academia, industry and civil society; creating new initiatives and initiating success stories at programme level;

Supplying an information hub and web platform addressing R&I, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport in the WB to enable better information sharing, create opportunities for joint actions and bring up the WB to EU policy making.