On 17 June 2026, the fifth EU-Montenegro Horizon Europe Joint Research and Innovation Committee meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Montenegro.
The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Mina Stareva, Deputy Head of Unit for ‘International cooperation – Europe and Americas’, DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission, and by Savica Vujičić, Acting Director General of the Directorate for Innovation and Smart Specialisation at the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Montenegro.
Policy developments
Both sides informed about recent policy developments, including the adoption of the second phase of the Smart Specialisation Strategy in Montenegro, efforts to strengthen business-academia cooperation by the Innovation Fund and startup support by the Science and Technology Park and the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre Tehnopolis. The newly established Horizon Europe Office is a one-stop-shop service provider for potential applicants.
As an EU accession country that aims to close accession negotiations this year, Montenegro is particularly interested in aligning national policies with European Research Area (ERA) priorities.
Participation in Horizon Europe
In terms of funding received, which is around 6 million euro, Montenegro’s participation in Horizon Europe has already exceeded their performance under Horizon 2020. They are particularly successful under the widening programme part of Horizon Europe; they have just been awarded a Teaming for Excellence grant for Smart Environmental Monitoring and Nature-Based Solutions for Protected Areas (CENNA), which was built on the results of a successful twinning project, MONUSEN (MONtenegrin center for Underwater SEnsor Networks).
Podgorica was officially awarded the mission label on 27-29 May at the Cities Mission Conference in Torino that is a big step towards the climate-neutrality of the capital city of Montenegro.
Conclusion and next steps
The meeting offered a good occasion to acknowledge Montenegro’s good progress since the last meeting in June 2025. The next Horizon Europe Joint Committee Meeting is foreseen to take place in Brussels in 2027, which will offer an excellent opportunity to start negotiations about the next Horizon Europe 2028-2034 programme.
