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The US has finally managed to push through a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, a vital and timely boost for the country as it continues to fend off Russia’s invasion. While for many in the US and western Europe the war can seem distant, it is very real and its impact stretches far and wide. One example that we look at in this week’s newsletter is cooled interest from foreign investors in Latvia’s market as businesses opt for caution in uncertain times. On the ground in Ukraine, we look at why the country needs big companies, not just start-ups, to support its resilient innovation ecosystem. Finally, we get Poland’s view on the war in a wide-ranging, two-part interview with ministers from the country’s newly re-established Ministry of Science and Higher Education. 

Spring is here and that means the Hungarian presidency of the EU, scheduled for the second half of this year, is fast approaching. One plan in the works is to propose a new partnership to boost development of the bioeconomy of central and eastern European countries. The Hungarians want to model this on the Mediterranean PRIMA partnership. Elsewhere, we look at the impact of the EU unfreezing €137 billion of funding for Poland, the possible effect of two new European Investment Bank offices opening in the Baltics, and a foresight report that sets out policy suggestions for boosting innovation in the Western Balkans

Roadshows, seed funds, and high-level visits are planned to get EU and UK partners collaborating once again. But UK universities also want an explicit guarantee the country will join the successor programme, FP10

Following criticism of its role in indirectly funding Chinese research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the NIH is demanding foreign collaborators submit full data sets and lab notebooks every year. A red tape nightmare looms

UK companies can now get grants of up to €2.5M from the EIC Accelerator programme but are still excluded from its equity fund - and investments of up to €15M