SCORE Project – Strengthening the strategic cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan region in the field of ICT Research is a Specific Support Action that addresses the need for well-defined future research priorities that will enhance scientific and research co-operation between the Western Balkan region and the EU. SCORE addresses specifically the thematic area of Information Communication Technologies (ICT), which corresponds to one of the nine thematic areas of the FP7’s “Co-operation” Programme. Addressing the above need, the objectives of SCORE are to: Develop a Strategic ICT Research Agenda for the Western Balkan region that will define the region’s ICT research priorities following a broad consultation with affected stakeholders (e.g. national RTD policy-makers, research actors including academic, not-for-profit and private sector research organisations, and ICT companies). Develop a Policy Paper with “Recommendations for shaping EU scientific co-operation with the Western Balkan Region in the field of ICT research: 2007-2013”. The policy paper will contribute to the shaping of the FP7’s Co-operation programme. Transfer EU research results and technologies in the identified ICT research priorities / thematic areas in order to familiarise Western Balkan research actors with current research developments and state-of-art technologies in these areas. Facilitate the development of networks between research actors within the Western Balkan region and between the region and the EU in order to develop contacts, exchange ideas and pursue joint research collaboration. The SCORE consortium represents all countries in the Western Balkan region (Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia). The project’s key results i.e. the Strategic ICT Research Agenda and the Policy Paper will be delivered within the first 15 months of the project, in order to allow their timely contribution to the shaping of the FP7 programme and future calls. The project’s total duration is 24 months, start date 01.02.2007 – 31.02.2009. More info about the project can be found at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/045384.

The project SEE Innovation – Facilitating Innovation for ICT SMEs in South Eastern Europe, is a Specific Support Action aiming to assist SMEs from candidate and third countries from the region of South Eastern Europe (SEE) to participate actively in EU-funded research in the field of Information Society Technologies. The specific aims of SEE-Innovation are to: map the capacities and needs of SMEs operating in the ICT sector in the countries of South Eastern Europe in order to identify those companies that have the potential and the strong interest to participate in RTD-related activities; provide training on opportunities offered by the EU FP6 for innovative ICT SMEs, in particular the IST and related programmes; to support the South Eastern European SMEs in shaping a competitive technological offer (even as a cluster of companies) to be attractive to the future project consortia that will address the calls of IST and related programmes; and facilitate the development of networks between SMEs in the region of South Eastern Europe in order to exchange ideas and pursue joint research collaboration as well as between SMEs and EU organisations, as this is the key to getting involved in joint project activities. SEE-Innovation is totally aligned with the objectives of the Economic and Technological Intelligence actions of the European Commission and contributes to the strengthening of the scientific and technological cooperation between EU member states, Associated Candidate Counties and Western Balkan countries. Seven countries from South Eastern Europe are represented in the project: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey. The project’s duration is 24 months in the period 01 July 2005 – 30 June 2007. More info about the project can be found at https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/23318 .