Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation in a caretaker capacity Academician Bela Balint met in Brussels with European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zaharieva to discuss the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, smart specialisation strategies and science diplomacy.
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Serbia regional leader in participation in Horizon Europe programme
Belgrade/Brussels,
23 October 2026
Balint, who met with Zaharieva on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Steering Platform on Research and Innovation for the Western Balkans, noted that strong cooperation has already been established between Serbia and the European Commission in all three of these areas.
Regarding the European Union’s future Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, the Minister highlighted that Serbia currently has over 480 signed grant agreements under the Horizon Europe programme and more than €170 million in net EU contribution.
It is particularly significant for us that these figures reflect the growing involvement of our institutions in European research networks, while we are simultaneously building a foundation at the national level, he emphasised.
According to him, the Science Fund has supported more than 3,900 researchers and funded over 550 research projects through its programmes, while the Innovation Fund has supported more than 900 projects and contributed to the development of over 680 new products.
During the meeting, the Serbian side highlighted the results of the latest Twinning call under the Horizon Europe programme, in which 18 projects with coordinators from Serbia were selected for funding. A project by the School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Belgrade ranked first on the list of 179 projects approved for funding.
The discussions also explored opportunities to further align Serbia’s smart specialisation priorities with European initiatives, particularly in the fields of biotechnology and artificial intelligence. In this context, the BIO4 Campus was presented as a key national project in the areas of biomedicine, bioinformatics, biotechnology and biodiversity.
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Author: Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation -
Author: Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation -
Author: Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation
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