WBC-INCO.NET (Western Balkan Countries INCO-NET )

Background and objectives

WBC-INCO.NET aims at coordinating research policy in and with the countries of the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Ongoing projects and initiatives are to be pooled in order to take better advantage of synergies and close existing gaps by introducing new structural measures.

The project has the following aims:

• Supporting bi-regional dialogue on R&D policy between the participating countries in cooperation with the “Steering Platform on Research for the Western Balkan Countries”, which was launched in 2006 as a political forum for the exchange of information on R&D policy in and with the countries of the Western Balkans.
• Identifying the R&D priorities and potential of the target countries in a transparent and methodically sound way to help the target countries them formulate their research policies and strategies. This regional priorities will serve as input into future FP7. Work Programmes and calls for proposals within the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7).
• Improving the participation of researchers from the Western Balkans in EU projects of mutual interest.

WBC-INCO.NET is based on the results of SEE-ERA.NET and pursues a strategy of close cooperation between the two projects.

A special feature of this INCO-NET is the fact that the target region is not made up of third countries, but mostly of associated countries to FP7 (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro). This means that these countries do not have a special status (in other words, there are no specially adapted calls for proposals), but that they take part in FP7 under the normal conditions.

Partners

The WBC-INCO:NET consortium is made up of 26 partners from 16 different countries, including the Research Ministries of Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Austria, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey. Numerous research institutions are also included.

On the German side, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the International Bureau of the BMBF at the PT-DLR are involved.

Activities

A total of 7 work packages are foreseen within WBC-INCO.NET. They will cover the following responsibilities:

1. European and regional dialogue
2. Setting priorities for the structure of participation in FP7
3. Monitoring and analysis of R&D cooperation
4. Capacity building
5. Building networks and improving participation in FP7
6. Project management
7. Dissemination

Numerous analyses are to be carried out within these work packages. The results will then be used in political dialogue. These efforts will not only focus on the exchange of opinions between the project partners, but especially on talks with representatives from various Directorates-General of the European Commission (DG Research, DG Enlargement, DG Education and Culture, DG Information Society and Media, and DG Enterprise and Industry). The efforts will be coordinated with other INCO-NET projects.

The kick-off meeting took place in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 1 February 2008 (see photo). At the meeting, the partners discussed details of the work packages and the next steps to be taken.

The BMBF and the International Bureau of the BMBF are in charge of Work Package 2. In this context, a workshop took place in Bonn on 10 and 11 April at which the first results of efforts to select thematic priorities were discussed. The participants also discussed the results of two EU-funded projects in which priorities for the Western Balkan countries were defined: a project in the field of Agriculture/Food Technology (BAFN – Balkan Agro Food Network) and a project in the field of information and communication technologies (SCORE – Strengthening the Strategic Cooperation Between the EU and Western Balkan Region in the field of Information and Communication Technologies Research).

Based on the results of this Workshop, a series of five consultation sessions were held after intensive preparations, in which representatives of all Western Balkan countries and some EU member States discussed the most important common research topics. Experts from science, policy makers, some National Contact Points and representatives from SMEs were present. Consultation sessions took place in the following scientific fields:

• ICT on December 10, 2008 in Belgrade/Serbia;
• Agriculture, Biotechnology, Food on January 15 and 16, 2009 in Podgorica/Montenegro;
• Health on May 12 and 13, 2009 in Tirana/Albania;
• Transport on May 19 and 20, 2009 in Sarajevo/Bosnia und Herzegovina;
• Environment on June 16 and 17, 2009 in Skopje/FYR of Macedonia.

In preparation for this, talks with European Commission representatives responsible for ICT, Health, Transport, Agriculture/Biotechnology/Food, Environment were held from April until August 2008.

The results - regional research priorities defined – were communicated to the respective thematic Directorates of the EU Commission and to the INCO Directorate as input to future FP 7 Work Programmes. Additionally, they were presented to the Steering Platform on Research for the Western Balkan countries and acknowledged by its representatives. Some of these priorities have been used in the Joint Call of the SEE-ERA.NET PLUS project, that was closed on November 2009. 190 Expressions of Interest for projects between Western Balkan countries and EU-Member States were submitted.

In June and December 2008 and Mai and October 2009 meetings of the "Steering Platform on Research for the Western Balkan Countries" took. They were each preceded by the WBC-INCO.NET Executive Steering Board meeting. On this occasion, the project progress as presented and open questions for further steps discussed. The next meetings of the Steering Platform and the Executive Steering Board are to take place in June 2010 in Belgrade/Serbia.

Currently, a proposal for an enlargement and extension of the WBC-INCO.NET is under preparation; the submission is due on January 19, 2010. Besides the deepening of the ongoing activities WBC-INCO.NET ENHANCED should include also a new Work Package on innovation.