Baltic Science Network – visions for the future

As the BSN_Powerhouse – the ongoing Baltic Science Network project – draws to a close, project partners and stakeholders met to discuss the achievements, the mission and the vision of this long-standing regional network.

The Baltic Science Network was established in a heterogeneous and fragmented science and research policy landscape as a macro-regional and transnational political body able to provide a united voice in research policy solutions in forums such as, for instance, the European Union.

The Network focuses on three main fields of action: Research and Innovation Excellence; Mobility in Research and Higher Education; Widening Participation and its achievements in those fields are a testament to the sustainability and the secret to the longevity of this consortium. In the current BSN_Powerhouse project research excellence is maintained and enhanced by connecting and coaching large and small research infrastructures for better research outcomes; mobility is ensured via Baltic Science Network Mobility Programme for Research Internships even in a time of pandemic and wider participation is possible to those outside the EU due to CBSS membership that includes Iceland, Norway, and Russia and partner funding.

A vision process has begun to further develop the concept of the Network and find long-term solutions to its functioning in terms of funding and governance, developing new relevant topics and projects, coming up with network structure to maintain BSN as a platform/forum for science policy in the Baltic Sea Region.

BSN – way forward

The BSN partners confirmed their commitment to find ways to continue the Network’s activities as an accellerator of science policy in the Baltic Sea Region by increasing participation in programmes such as Horizon Europe and guiding it towards a more transnational dimension, integrating Russia, Belarus and Ukraine more strongly, establishing BSN mobility tools and fostering scientific collaboration, centered around large research infrastructures.