The Widening News

A new report highlights structural problems and bottlenecks that are holding back progress in building up capacity and strengthening the scientific systems in eastern Europe

As the process of reforming research assessment gains momentum, representatives of Widening countries share concerns that their perspectives will not be properly accommodated

Concentrated diplomatic efforts win the day as Romania is made a ‘founding observer’ in the ELI ERIC consortium. The move is a huge step forwards after a long-running row that seriously held up the largest research infrastructure in eastern Europe

The government withheld funding for a research institute after objecting to the views of one of its scholars. Researchers say this is an attempt ‘to intimidate scholars whose research might result in refutations of opinions held by some politicians’

Toomas Asser, recently appointed for a second term at the helm of the University of Tartu, has big plans for changing how knowledge is translated from lab to market

Science|Business is tracking various assessments of how Widening initiatives in Horizon Europe are matching up to their objectives with a view to understanding how they should evolve

Few EIC grants have gone directly to early-stage companies in Widening Countries, but now an EIC-backed accelerator is providing mentoring to help 32 start-ups from the region to shape their business plans and access private capital

With targeted programmes of support and a new accelerator, Romania aims to build a deeper ecosystem for healthcare start-ups

Almost ten years on, the EU-funded centres are strengthening research and innovation performance. Now the challenge is to ensure they are sustainable and can thrive on their own long term

The appeals add another layer of complication to an ongoing dispute between Brussels and Budapest over the autonomy of many of Hungary’s higher education institutions