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POLICY ENLARGE: Support for R&I policy making in the EU enlargement countries

POLICY ENLARGE (R&I Policy Support for Enlargement Countries) strengthens evidence-based Research and Innovation (R&I) policy-making, implementation, and support across EU enlargement countries.

Building on the successful foundation of the POLICY ANSWERS project, this initiative addresses an expanded geographical scope and responds to the new strategic needs of an evolving European R&I landscape. The project accelerates integration into European frameworks, drives sustainable regional cohesion, and prepares candidate countries for closer alignment with EU financial and geopolitical priorities.

Project Focus Areas

  • EU Integration: Aligning national systems with the European Research Area (ERA), European Education Area, and European Innovation Agenda.
  • Strategic Resilience: Accelerating the green and digital transitions whilst enhancing regional stability.
  • Inclusive Growth: Supporting Smart Specialisation Strategies, gender equality plans, and the active participation of underrepresented groups.
  • Ecosystem Mobilisation: Uniting national institutions, civil society, industry, and academia for lasting impact beyond the project’s lifetime.

Key Project Outputs

  • Structured Policy Dialogue: High-level ministerial meetings, thematic workshops, and peer learning exchanges.
  • New Third-Party Funding (FSTP): Flexible grants for joint innovation, R&I results uptake, and people-to-people cooperation.
  • Targeted Capacity Building: Tailored training in R&I reforms, digitalisation, technology transfer, and evidence-based decision-making.
  • Twin Transitions Support: Driving green and digital evolution with inclusive participation across all ten enlargement countries.

Operational Framework (Work Packages)

To achieve its goals, POLICY ENLARGE operates through six structured Work Packages (WPs):

WP1: Policy Dialogue

WP2: Policy Guidance and Learning

WP3: Joint calls and actions

WP4: Capacity building

WP5: Communication, Dissemination, Exploitation and Stakeholder Engagement

WP6: Project Management and Coordination

Project key data

Project coordinator:
Dr. Béla Kardon – Chief Scientific Officer
Regional Centre for Information and Scientific Development
Hűvösvölgyi út 54. V/1., Budapest, Hungary H-1021

Project Runtime: 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2029

Grant Agreement: 101289627

The project answered to the call WIDERA-2025-04 as published here: https://cordis.europa.eu/programme/id/HORIZON_HORIZON-WIDERA-2025-04-ACCESS-01.

Below browse our resources for:

  • Reports, policy briefs and data on and from the POLICY ENLARGE project partners
  • Calls, funding and events related directly to POLICY ENLARGE

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