The conference gathered together the coordinators of all R2I INCO projects targeting Eastern Partner Countries, as well as representatives from several other projects in the field. Partners from NoGAP talked about their experiences with twinning activities in the projects and presented first results and impacts. More than 50 participants from 13 countries all over the European Union and the Eastern Partnership attended the event.

The conference was opened by Professor Daniela Popescu, Vice-Rector of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and host of the conference, and by Professor Norbert Höptner, Commissioner for Europe of the Ministry of Economics of Baden Württemberg and Director of Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum, the coordinating institution. Both speakers stressed the importance of transnational collaboration for the creation of a favourable environment for technology transfer. The Danube Transfer Centers (DTC) which operate in several locations in the Danube Region (DTC Cluj-Napoca & DTC Bucharest (Romania), DTC Bratislava & DTC Nitra (Slovakia,) DTC Novi Sad (Serbia), DTC Maribor (Slovenia), DTC Vukovar (Croatia), DTC Pannon (Hungary) and DTC Ruse (Bulgaria)) are good examples how best practices can be transferred across borders for the benefit of SMEs, academia and society in general.

The second part of the conference was dedicated to the discussion of country experiences from twinning activities in the NoGAP projects. Twinning took place between institutions in Georgia ans Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania as well as between Belarus and Germany. Coordinators from R2I projects InnoverEast , SUAFRI EPC  and SECURE R2I complemented these presentations with insights from their projects. Generally, twinning was considered an excellent instrument by all participants, which generates good relationships between institutions and leads to some tangible results. For example, the twinning between the Georgian Technical University in Tbilissi and the Slovak University of Agriculture (SUA) in Nitra in the frame of NoGAP lead to some results: Ideas are discussed how a research center similar to the new research center AgroBioTech at SUA can be established in Georgia. 2 Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between Slovak Agriculture University and 2 Georgian universities: Georgian Technical University and Georgian Agriculture University. Trust and communication were considered essential for successful twinning activities. The R2I coordinators, who supported comparable activities, supported this point of view. This bottom-up driven approach should be pursued further in the future.

As a conclusion, the support for technology transfer and innovation across borders should target all levels: the micro-level of cooperation between institutions, the cooperation in the frame of macro-regions such as the Black Sea region, as well as the cooperation on European level. Recognizing the interdisciplinary nature of innovation, stakeholders looking for support should look beyond Horizon 2020 and search for synergies with other instruments, from regional policy and structural funds as well as thematically oriented programs.

The presentations of this event are available here.