EKONOMSKI INSTITUT ZAGREB

Their core work

The Institute of Economics Zagreb (EIZ) is a Croatian economics research centre that conducts applied economic research with a focus on innovation policy, regional development, and EU-level policy evaluation. They contributed to assessing the real-world impact of the EU's Innovation Union framework and simultaneously worked on building their own scientific infrastructure to meet European research excellence standards. Their work sits squarely at the intersection of economic analysis and innovation governance — translating complex EU policy frameworks into evidence-based insights. As an economics institute rather than a technical lab, their value lies in evaluation, strategy, and knowledge transfer, not in developing technologies directly.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both H2020 projects ran in the 2015–2018 window, so the evolution visible here is within a single short phase rather than across a long arc. The earlier project (I3U, 2015) was externally focused — evaluating the Innovation Union's impact across Europe as a participant in a larger consortium. The later project (SmartEIZ, 2016), which EIZ coordinated itself, turned inward: building the institute's own research excellence, adopting smart specialisation logic, and developing capacity for knowledge transfer. The trajectory suggests a move from policy analyst-for-hire toward becoming a recognised regional hub for innovation strategy and scientific capacity in Croatia.

EIZ appears to be positioning itself as a national centre of excellence for smart specialisation and innovation-driven economic research, though their H2020 trail ends in 2018 — whether that momentum continued is not visible in this dataset.

How they like to work

EIZ is comfortable in both the coordinator seat and as a consortium participant, having taken each role once. With only 10 unique partners across 2 projects, their consortia are compact and purposeful rather than broad networks. The fact that they coordinated SmartEIZ — a capacity-building grant — suggests they can manage project administration and partner relations, not just deliver research tasks.

EIZ reached 9 countries through just 10 consortium partners, suggesting efficient and genuinely international consortia rather than domestic clustering. Their network spans at least two distinct collaboration modes: policy evaluation networks (I3U) and twinning/capacity-building partnerships (SmartEIZ).

What sets them apart

EIZ is one of the few Croatian economics research institutes with direct H2020 coordination experience, giving it credibility in consortium-building conversations within the Western Balkans and Central-Eastern European region. Their dual profile — both evaluating EU innovation frameworks and actively modernising their own research infrastructure under S3 logic — makes them a credible bridge between EU policy design and regional implementation. For a consortium needing a partner who understands innovation policy from the inside and can represent Croatian or Southeast European economic perspectives, EIZ is a rare fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SmartEIZ
  EIZ's largest grant (EUR 407,285) and their only coordinator role — a CSA project to upgrade their own scientific capacity using Smart Specialisation Strategy logic, which signals institutional ambition beyond routine project participation.
• I3U
  Participation in a pan-European RIA project evaluating the Innovation Union itself places EIZ inside a high-profile policy evaluation exercise, demonstrating their standing in EU innovation governance research.