Minister of Science Sanja Damjanović was in Brussels yesterday at the invitation of Maria Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. In addition to participating in the days of science and innovation, where she moderated a session dedicated to the Western Balkans, she held a series of bilateral meetings yesterday, the ministry announced.
"Damjanović met with Commissioner Marija Gabriel, with whom she discussed the Innovative Agenda for the Western Balkans, but also the future of the SEEIIST project," the statement said.
According to Gabriel, she praised the exceptional results that Montenegro achieved in the previous period in the field of science and innovation, by adopting the Smart Specialization Strategy, developing an innovative ecosystem, increasing participation in H2020, but also by initiating a project such as SEEIIST.
"The interlocutors once again emphasized the importance of the Innovative Agenda, and the Commissioner announced that this document will be incorporated into the Economic and Investment Plan prepared by the General Directorate for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy (DG NEAR), which will be presented on October 6. Commissioner Marija Gabriel gave strong support to the SEEIIST project, apostrophizing that she absolutely understands the importance of establishing a research infrastructure in the Western Balkans, so that this region preserves talents and succeeds in returning a certain number of those who left the countries. She indicated that the new framework program for science and innovations "Horizon Europe" to have many more mechanisms for financing SEEIIST, bearing in mind the Mission dedicated to Cancer, but also the fact that it is one of the biggest health challenges today, where innovations in treating patients are necessary, and that this a project important not only for the region, but also for Europe," the statement said.
As they clarified, on the same day, Damjanović met with Jean Eric Paquet, director general of the Directorate for Science and Innovation, and Johannes Klumpers, head of the Research Infrastructure unit.
"The meeting was an opportunity to summarize the results of the SEEIIST project so far, but also to analyze the possibilities for further funding. Paquet praised the progress of SEEIIST and pointed out that he considers the fact that SEEIIST applied to the recently concluded call for the ESFRI roadmap, a map of European research, extremely important infrastructure. He confirmed that the project's results so far have demonstrated competitiveness in the European framework and that this is the most important fact when it comes to the Commission, and he announced the continuation of support for the project," says the announcement-
Damjanović also spoke with Signe Ratso, deputy general director of the Directorate for Science and Innovation, as well as Ruta Zarnauskaite, head of the unit for accession to the new framework program "Horizon Europe".
"Ratso thanked Minister Damjanović for the fact that Montenegro is the first country in the Western Balkans that expressed interest in joining the new framework program "Horizon Europe", and pointed out that she expects that the agreement for the accession of all interested countries in the Western Balkans will soon be ready, in order to "Montenegro and other countries of the region could access the invitations from the start, the first of which was announced for December this year," the statement concluded.
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