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During August 2026, in the scope of BRITE-EU project, University of Novi Sad conducted several interviews with different stakeholders on the current state of affairs in Serbia concerning digital health.  These categories included researchers, research and innovation (R&I) managers, healthcare and public health institutions, and industry representatives who highlighted key opportunities for strengthening Serbia’s R&I ecosystem.  While stakeholders recognised that important research-support structures, international partnerships, mobility programmes, and cooperation mechanisms already exist, they pointed to persistent challenges in their coordination and effectiveness. Common concerns include limited human resources, insufficient specialised expertise, administrative burdens, unequal access to international opportunities, and the need for stronger links between research and industry.  Researchers emphasised the importance of practical support, protected research time, professional development, mentoring, and fair access to projects and mobility opportunities. R&I managers highlighted the need for stronger institutional strategies, better coordination, additional staff, and specialised expertise in areas such as project management, intellectual property, and knowledge transfer. Industry and healthcare stakeholders stressed the importance of improving data access and management, strengthening university–industry cooperation, supporting the commercialisation of research, and ensuring that R&I priorities respond to real health and societal needs.  The interviews also identified examples of good practice, including established research-management offices, international collaborations, long-term public health programmes, and successful cooperation between academia and industry.  Overall, Serbia has many of the foundations needed for a stronger R&I system. The priority is to connect and strengthen existing capacities, improve coordination and professional support, and create clearer pathways for turning research and innovation into practical benefits for healthcare, industry, and society.

Europe’s future in digital health depends on its people, their skills, opportunities, and ability to thrive where they are most needed. Using a “twinning” logic, BRITE-EU fosters knowledge exchange between academia and industry to reverse the brain drain from Widening countries and build “interoperable” talent, researchers who can navigate both the laboratory and the commercial market.  With this vision at its core, DEX Innovation Centre (DEX IC), based in Liberec, Czech Republic, leads BRITE-EU’s work on strengthening the scientific profile and research capacity of partner institutions. Two activities sit at the heart of this work: Joint research projects, connecting researchers from Widening and non-Widening countries around shared scientific challenges, and a mentorship programme pairing experienced researchers with early-career colleagues.  Building bridges between researchers  DEX IC sees this work not simply as a coordination task, but as an opportunity to create meaningful connections between researchers and institutions. As Adam Červenka, Project Manager at DEX IC, explains: “It is really about building bridges between people, not just institutions. When a researcher from a Widening country gets paired with an experienced mentor or joins a joint research project with a partner, they’d otherwise never meet, that’s where real capacity gets built, not just on paper, but in the way, people start working together.”  Focus groups and interviews underway across all partner countries  All partner countries are currently running focus groups and one-on-one interviews to map the needs, challenges, and opportunities shaping research careers and research and innovation (R&I) management in digital health. Portugal, Spain and Romania already held their focus groups, bringing together stakeholders from across their national Digital Health ecosystems, with more partner countries following soon!   Each session explores topics such as skills and mentoring needs, barriers to collaboration between academia, industry, and healthcare, and recommendations for strengthening the local digital health R&I ecosystem. Contributions are treated confidentially and reported only in an aggregated way. Together, these conversations will help identify current needs, map existing expertise, and inform the design of the joint research projects and mentorship programme.  Stay connected and follow BRITE-EU as it works to empower researchers, strengthen institutions, and shape the future of digital health R&I in Europe.