As part of the leading annual event of the European Commission "European Days of Science and Innovation", the Minister of Science of Montenegro Sanja Damjanović moderated the panel entitled "Towards an Innovation Agenda for the Western Balkans".
This session was formally opened by the European Commissioner for Science and Innovation, Marija Gabriel, speaking about the vision of the region, emphasizing that it was the framework program Horizon2020, Erasmus+, Creative Europe that have shown that they have a great influence in the Western Balkans, and that now is the time to increase that influence and make it even bigger by building links between education, business and research.
Damjanović expressed her pleasure to moderate this session and thanked Commissioner Gabriel for opening the panel dedicated to the Innovation Agenda for the Western Balkans.
On that occasion, she pointed out that the Western Balkans is a large and integral part of Europe, but that it needs support for the development of sustainable economies and that she highly appreciates the fact that this region is a strategic priority of the European Commission.
"The joining of our region to the framework programs of the EU proved to be a powerful instrument of systemic changes in our countries, giving us special strength in the development of our national strategies. This is confirmed by the fact that all the countries of the Western Balkans are in the process of developing smart specialization strategies and policies in accordance with EU priorities for a green, digitized and socially cohesive Europe, set by President von der Leyen".
The panel discussed the achievements so far since joining these programs, expectations from the next framework program Horizon Europe, but also other recovery measures for the region, as well as how to overcome the challenges and the gap between East and West that still exists.
Damjanović also participated in a high-level panel entitled "Geopolitics and taking the lead in key global challenges".
In this panel, in which, in addition to Damjanović, the ministers of science and innovation of Turkey, Georgia and Canada also participated, the advantages of joining the framework programs of the European Union, their geopolitical reach, the need to adjust access, the role of research infrastructure and cooperation in solving global challenges were discussed. .
Damjanović, among other things, pointed out that the transformation of Montenegro and the strengthening of the Montenegrin innovation ecosystem can now be clearly seen, noting that "our country is becoming a regional hub of green energy - with the large project of the submarine electric cable built between Montenegro and Italy (an investment of one billion EUR), with currently the largest solar power plant in the region (250 MW), with many wind farms - which visibly contributes to Europe becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050".
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