The Widening News

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs participants from Poland, Slovenia and Hungary learned much from their mentors. Now they want to see the EU work experience programme do more to help them make wider connections

The researcher behind the government backed computer science centre laments the EU’s slow, top-down approach to innovation and backs the Sofia-based facility to succeed by carrying out high quality research, providing the feedstock for start-ups

The country’s low number of PhDs and unattractive academic career pathways has left it struggling to replace retiring academics and is holding back its research performance

Some university heads are saying the country should follow the French model of consolidation after the only university to have featured in the research-focused ranking drops out

In a sign of increased self-confidence, three projects led from Poland have won EU funding. This is seen as a significant advance for a country whose researchers have preferred to join consortia as partners, not leaders

Despite government efforts to lure the science diaspora back home, many researchers are not convinced Romania can improve its scientific culture and move past the reputational damage done by a series of high-level plagiarism cases

The centre hosts 3D printing technology and will support SMEs to modernise their systems and processes and to develop and test new products

The south-eastern Czech region and the city of Brno have spent the past 20 years building an innovation ecosystem and now hope to take this recognition of success further

A recent conference brought together representatives of both countries’ research communities and government officials, leading to talks of building closer ties

The EEA and Norway Grants have carved out a niche supporting start-ups from the Widening countries that are looking for international collaboration and green prestige