The nine countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) offer a significant opportunity for science, innovation, and technology partnerships with the UK.
Driven by efforts to combine their science, innovation and technology expertise, the region’s combined GDP is over €2 trillion – an economy of emerging innovators leading a tech revolution.
The region has increased its enterprise value since 2017 by 7.6 times.
The priorities of the UK’s International Tech Strategy align with pockets of excellence across the region.
Austria, for example, is the fourth largest producer of semiconductors, expanding supply chains through Czechia and Bulgaria.
Croatia’s unicorns drive 4% of the country’s GDP, and Poland and Czechia’s retention of 90% of their startup enterprise value shows the strength of the emerging science, innovation and technology ecosystems.
Building connections in the UK
UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN) teams in Central and Eastern Europe are working to communicate these opportunities to UK stakeholders and build connections across the science, innovation and technology ecosystem.
The appetite to work with the UK is high – during the previous Horizon Europe programme, the UK was among the top partners of choice for CEE researchers.
Following the UK’s reassociation to Horizon Europe and Copernicus, the nation is keen to maintain and strengthen those connections.
Tech events help to communicate and encourage collaboration while addressing policy approaches that are critical to the safe and secure emergence of critical tech.
The impact of science, innovation and technology across Europe
Semiconductors
In January, SIN organised a high-level roundtable on semiconductors to connect Bulgarian and UK stakeholders interested in developing cooperation and exchanging approaches to semiconductors.
Semiconductors are a priority sector for the UK in the context of the UK Semiconductors Strategy, and Bulgaria is recognised as a partner in this area under the UK-Bulgaria Strategic Partnerships Agreement.
This has led to an opportunity to work with the Bulgaria Ministry of Innovations and Growth as they prepare a report and recommendations to develop the sector in 2024, the potential to develop an accelerator programme based on the UK’s Chipstart programme and a memorandum of understanding signed between the Bulgarian Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics (BASEL) and TechWorks UK.
Artificial intelligence
In February, SIN hosted the first UK-Romania research conference on AI, focusing on AI to help us better understand emerging opportunities in AI research in Romania.
The conference brought together contacts from academia, SMEs, NGOs, and senior officials.
The event was part of a series of SIN initiatives on AI, which started in 2021 with a UK-Romania high-level dialogue in London, an online workshop on national AI strategies, and a visit to present the Romanian government’s AI advisor, ‘Ion’, to the UK.
In March, SIN supported a wider delegation of AI stakeholders from Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland to the UK to attend the Alan Turing Institute AI Expo 2024.
The delegation used the opportunity to share policy approaches on AI regulation, build connections for AI influencers in the region, and connect researchers.
Tech mapping report unveils further opportunities
To find out more about opportunities across the wider Central and Eastern Europe region, read the UK government’s report on tech opportunities, commissioned by SIN and created by researchers at Public International (a UK-based tech insights organisation).
The report provides country-by-country snapshots on why CEE is important to the UK under each of the five priority technologies.
