The KnowHub project will reconnect universities and enterprises in the Western Balkans to support the development of innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem through knowledge transfer. This cooperation will sustain and further grow the research and practical teaching capacities of the targeted universities, will increase the international competitiveness of the enterprises and will provide students with practical experience enhancing their (self)employability. This will be achieved through setting-up of Commercialisation Hubs at the European University of Tirana and University of Vlora in Albania, University of Sarajevo and University of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the University of Montenegro. The Hubs will join knowledge, resources and infrastructure from different university units and centres serving as a one-stop-shop for cooperation with industry. Each Hub’s placement, strategy, business plan and portfolio of instruments will be tailor-made to the needs and capacities of the universities from the project. This will enhance the full potential of each university and the Hubs’ sustainability. Within the scope of this project the Hubs and the Partner Country Universities (PCUs) will develop capacities in Rapid Prototyping and Lean Manufacturing through study visits and trainings, as well as peer-mentoring from the EU universities. At least15 enterprises will be engaged in university-enterprise cooperation projects including more than15 professors and 45 students. The project will also develop the Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) capacities at the PCUs. Academic staff will be trained (≥25 professors) in order to increase both the commercialisation of research through entrepreneurial activities (start-ups and spin-offs) and to embed I&E topics and skills into (≥25) technical courses. The first generation of (≥50) students active in the Hubs will be trained on STEM Bootcamp increasing their (self)employability.

Although Western Balkan countries (WBCs) have improved in terms of R&I performance, research and innovation efforts should be further enhanced for bridging the remaining ‘gap’ with the rest European regions. RRI principles can act as enablers for the sustainable development of the local R&I systems, enhancing the effectiveness of R&I strategies contributing to the advancement of Western Balkan socio-economic progress in a transparent, open, and inclusive way through active participation of all quadruple helix actors. WBC-RRI.NET aims to foster the application of RRI principles at the territorial level in five (5) Western Balkan -4 region-level and 1 country-level- R&I ecosystems and promote a multi-level steering R&I governance framework in the WBCs. RRI principles will act as enablers to the shared learning and diffusion of R&I governance innovations at territorial level, enhancing R&I planning, including S3 Strategies in the WBCs. The project’s approach evolving through an analytical, reflective and implementation thread, will operationally address the 5 WB territories (partners represent all parts of the quadruple helix) and subsequently influence the wider WB region, by activating the embedding of RRI into their R&I ecosystems. This will be realised by RRI activities throughout the entire project (horizontal aspect), raising an active dialogue in the wider WB region and fostering the comprehension of all RRI pillars under a holistic framework based on a ‘smart directionality’ approach, offering stakeholder engagement with a focus on citizen participation. Alongside, 5 RRI ‘anchor’ initiatives (vertical aspect), as interventions touching in-depth specific RRI keys, territorial features and scientific domains, will allow RRI principles to be rooted in the territorial ecosystems leading to concrete impact to R&I territorial policies and societal regional needs. Finally, impact evaluation and dissemination activities focus on the project’s long-term sustainability.