Higher education sector is an area with high potential and relevance for the overall development of Albanian society and economy. For a pro-European development of the country, young academics, researchers, project managers, innovators and students are of crucial importance. Thus, it is a main motivation for this consortium to enhance an enabling higher education environment that supports university to society collaborations in order to co-produce knowledge and research with impact that is not only academically insightful, but also applicable to the development of Albania in light of European integration. The project strengthens institutional and human resources capacities in HEIs in Albania through the establishment of Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Brokerage unit (USIA) that link in an institutionalised and sustainable way university to business, government, civil society and media. The capacity building programme, models, guidelines, best practices, strategies and pilot programmes of cooperation (Second a Researcher, Policy Lab, Policy Challenge Fund) contribute to modernisation of HEIs governance and their integration in European Higher Education area. USIA will set up partnerships and launch collaborative projects between university and business sector, SMEs, start-ups, NGOs, CSOs, think tanks, public bodies and media with the aim to co-produce knowledge and research that are applicable to local priorities. The project will establish and expand a Quadruple Helix network and online platform which will offer networking, matchmaking, brokerage, dissemination, competences development, support and valorisation for academic and non-academic actors. The project widens participation in Erasmus+ CBHE by bringing together different typology of HEIs in Albania and actors from civil society, public and private sector. The project prioritises women in academia, research and innovation.

This is the continuation project of the Ideal-ist network - the network for National Contact Points (NCP) of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The objective of Ideal-ist is to foster trans-national cooperation among National Contact Points (NCP) in the area of Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies (LEIT) Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) under Horizon2020. The project will deliver trans-national services offering tangible benefits to Ideal-ist users; proposers and NCPs, and other projects, by supporting knowledge sharing, networking and proposal development activities. This cooperation will also include collaboration and networking with similar networks in parallel themes (Security, ENV, Transport, Energy, Health, etc.), especially in the context of joint/coordinated or PPP calls. Ideal-ist will be built upon experience gained over more than 20 years from the preceding projects, starting in FP4, and the cooperation of NCPs in the network and those supporting the network.

The ERA TALENT is a 36 months coordination and support action with the aims to support the implementation of the new ERA Communication and to further develop the services provided by the existing EURAXESS network, with the objective to support the career development of researchers in Europe, expanding the career trajectories for them in academia, industry and business. The ERA TALENT scope will be reached through the establishment of five thematic Hubs that are built as one-stop-shops where researchers find information and support services fed by the competences of the Centres in different fields and through six Community of Practices (CoP), where the Centres are grouped under specific themes to exchange experiences and information, needed to strengthen their knowledge and expanding their talent management services for researchers. The ERA TALENT project will support the EURAXESS Centres to deliver specialised talent management services to improve the employability and mobility schemes for talented researchers. Last but not least a more fostered culture of entrepreneurship opening new career trajectories for researchers in industry and business will be seek. The ERA TALENT project involves 34 BHOs Partners and it will be structured in 6 Work Packages: WP1 Project Management; WP2 Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation; WP3 Hubs Framework Co-creation and monitoring; WP4 Knowledge sharing for specialisation in the EURAXESS Network; WP5 Researchers orientation; WP6 Digitalisation and data.

The project will support the policy dialogue including formal meetings, monitoring and agenda setting, capacity building and implementation of the EU's Western Balkan Agenda, as well as the aligning of thematic priorities. It will implement regional pilot activities and upgrade an information hub based on the wbc-rti.info platform. 14 partner organisations, representing network nodes in the region and EU expert organisation, support policy dialogue through ministerial meetings, Steering Platform meetings and ad-hoc policy meetings. They provide analytical evidence via monitoring and mapping activities (of the stakeholder ecosystem, implementation of the Western Balkans Agenda and integration to the European Research Area) and foresight. POLICY ANSWERS also allows for tailored and targeted capacity building activities in the Western Balkans as well as regional alignment in relation to the digital transformation, the green agenda and towards healthy societies. Pilot activities provide learning opportunities on policy and programme level and reach out to final beneficiaries related to improved academia-industry cooperation, researcher mobility, youth, promotion of research infrastructures and increased innovation skills in all areas. The project builds on existing information hubs (for example, wbc-rti.info) and continues services such as regular newsletters, media relations, production of infographics and multimedia content. Special emphasis will be put on the inclusion of underrepresented groups and the coordination with key stakeholders and international organisations.

NCP_WIDERA.NET aims at support the capacity and effectiveness of WIDERA National Contact Points with a special attention to less experienced entities in low performing Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC) to bridge the knowledge gaps to enhance access to funding possibilities under the Framework Programme. Through strengthening and enhancing the role of the NCPs, the project shall support international networking and coordination, as well as improve the quality of proposals from legal entities from low R&I performing MS and AC providing them with better access to services during the application process in particular with regard to Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area, as well as Pillar II actions. NCP_WIDERA.NET will focus on identifying and sharing good practices within NCP community and raising standards of support offered by NCPs to the applicants, taking into account the diversity of actors that constitutes both the Widening and ERA parts. Moreover, this project will equip the transnational network of NCPs to be in a better position to effectively address cross-cutting objectives such as gender equality and open science.