Why SMARTLABOR?
Agri-food has a prominent place in Smart Specialisation Strategies across the Western Balkans, reflecting both its economic importance and its potential for technological and scientific development.
Yet several obstacles make that potential difficult to realise: slow adoption of technology by farmers and smaller businesses, shortages of relevant skills, weak connections between innovation actors, and education systems that do not always respond quickly to technological change. At the same time, evidence needed for policymaking is often fragmented, while civil society has had a limited role in Smart Specialisation processes.
SMARTLABOR addressed these problems through a 5-Helix approach, connecting evidence generation, stakeholder cooperation, capacity building and policy co-creation across public authorities, business, research and education, civil society and other actors shaping the agri-food innovation ecosystem.
The project focused on the links between innovation, skills and policymaking, and on how stronger connections across the innovation ecosystem can support more effective Smart Specialisation and the digital and green transformation of the agri-food sector.
What we wanted to change
SMARTLABOR worked in three interconnected areas.
Make knowledge easier to find and use.
The project developed an open platform bringing together methodologies, stakeholder maps, data, research and tools that could support evidence-based policymaking and be reused in other Western Balkan economies.
Strengthen civil society’s role in Smart Specialisation.
The Smart Labour Network connected organisations with complementary research, policy and advocacy expertise and strengthened their capacity to participate in national and regional S3 processes.
Create policy with stakeholders rather than for them.
Through research and co-creation forums, the project brought together actors from government, civil society, research, education, agriculture, business and technology to identify challenges and develop practical policy responses.
What we did
SMARTLABOR combined research, stakeholder mapping, capacity building, knowledge exchange and policy co-creation across the Western Balkans.
Mapping innovation ecosystems
The project mapped organisations involved in:
- vertical knowledge and technology transfer, particularly between research and business;
- horizontal transfer, including the movement of knowledge and technologies towards farmers and agri-businesses;
- skills development; and
- policymaking at national, regional and EU levels.
The mapping covered civil society, public institutions, research organisations, farmers’ associations, businesses, education providers and technology actors.
Building an open repository
Research reports, policy papers, methodologies, stakeholder information, data and supporting materials were brought together through the Smart Labour platform.
Researching skills and technological change
The project examined how digital and green transformation is affecting skills, labour markets, innovation and knowledge transfer in the agri-food sector.
Co-creating policy
National and regional forums brought different parts of the innovation ecosystem together to identify problems, compare experiences and develop recommendations.
Sharing knowledge
SMARTLABOR also created a programme of peer learning around research methodology, digital skills, AI-assisted analysis, skills foresight and new approaches to matching skills and learning opportunities.
Lead partner on the project:
Public Policy Research Center (CENTER) from Serbia
Project partners:
Centre for Development Evaluation and Social Science Research (CREDI) from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Impetus from North Macedonia
Duration of the project:
22 months
Supported by
“SMART Balkans – Civil Society for Shared Society in the Western Balkans” regional project implemented by Centar za promociju civilnog društva (CPCD), Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) and financially supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA).
