INCE INIZIATIVA CENTRO EUROPEA - SEGRETARIATO ESECUTIVO

Their core work

The Central European Initiative (CEI) is an intergovernmental cooperation forum headquartered in Trieste, Italy, promoting regional collaboration across Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. In H2020, CEI acts as a policy bridge and network facilitator — connecting national actors across multiple countries around shared challenges in bioenergy, bioeconomy, and digital health. Their role is not technical research but coordination: organizing multi-country dialogue, building cross-border networks, and supporting technology platform activities. They bring unmatched geographic reach across the CEE region to any consortium they join.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CEI's H2020 involvement began in 2016 with a clear focus on bioenergy platform support through the ETIP Bioenergy series — facilitating European-level coordination around advanced biofuels and renewable energy. By 2019, their scope broadened into two new directions: bioeconomy networking (CELEBio, which they coordinated) and digital health policy (DigitalHealthEurope). This shift suggests a deliberate expansion from energy-only policy work toward broader innovation coordination across health and food/agriculture sectors.

CEI is moving from single-sector energy coordination toward multi-sector innovation networking, likely positioning itself as a go-to regional coordinator for any topic requiring Central/Eastern European engagement.

How they like to work

CEI predominantly joins as a partner (3 of 4 projects) but stepped into a coordinator role for CELEBio, their largest and most strategically aligned project. With 29 unique partners across 17 countries from just 4 projects, they operate as a network hub rather than a deep bilateral collaborator. Working with CEI means gaining access to a wide multi-country network, particularly across Central and Southeastern Europe — ideal for consortia that need geographic coverage and policy-level connections.

CEI has collaborated with 29 unique partners across 17 countries in just 4 projects — an exceptionally broad network for this project count. Their geographic strength clearly lies in connecting Western European technical partners with Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European institutions.

What sets them apart

CEI's distinctive value is institutional: as an intergovernmental body representing multiple Central European member states, they provide political legitimacy and cross-border convening power that universities or research institutes simply cannot offer. For any consortium needing to demonstrate genuine multi-country impact or mobilize policy actors across the CEE region, CEI is a rare and well-connected partner. Their focus on Coordination and Support Actions (100% of their portfolio) confirms they are facilitators, not researchers — which is exactly what large platform-building projects need.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CELEBio
  CEI's only coordinator role and largest budget (EUR 197,500) — a dedicated Central European bioeconomy leadership network that directly reflects their institutional mission.
• DigitalHealthEurope
  Marks CEI's expansion into digital health policy, with explicit focus on personalised medicine and digital single market — a significant sector pivot from their energy roots.