Despite an increasingly strong showing in winning EU funds, special support measures remain necessary for the country’s long-term development, says Eugénio Campos Ferreira, vice rector for research and innovation at the University of Minho

A bi-monthly newsletter with news and analysis on R&I policy in central and eastern Europe

As 2024 begins, we assess the success of attempts to close the EU’s east-west research and innovation gap. There is progress, but a decade on, disparity persists and alongside beefed up EU measures, national R&D funding needs to increase

The four countries have teamed up to bring together Germany’s political heft with the expertise in digital transformation of the Baltic states and inject fresh impetus into the EU single digital market agenda

Merging institutions can bring economies of scale, strengthening finances and research - and attracting staff and students. But vested interests often block this route to moving up the league tables 

A partnership with the Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium is one of the latest moves to try and improve success rates in getting finance from the EU start-up funder

Concerted efforts to increase success in winning grants from the research programme are bearing fruit. While still low in the EU league table, the two countries now have the networks and support systems in place to make further headway 

SynergistEIC supports start-ups to give them a better chance of success in the EIC Accelerator. But high demand means getting selected for the scheme is almost as competitive as the EIC Accelerator itself

With the likely new government promising to increase R&D funding and ‘depoliticise’ science, researchers are pointing to further reforms they say are needed to increase the standing and quality of the country’s research system

As things stand, the country’s national contact points have to juggle their day jobs with helping researchers to win funding. Creating a professional network is now on the cards, but it may take some time