Background and Aim

The research and innovation (R&I) gap between EU-13 and EU-14 countries persists and, by several accounts, continues to widen, sustained by fragmented collaboration, brain drain, and uncertainty over the future of Widening funding. Structured programmes strengthening academic partnerships across the region remain scarce. We present the progress of Alliance4Life_BRIDGE (A4L_BRIDGE), a Horizon Europe European Excellence Initiative uniting twelve health-research institutions from eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) Widening countries to foster collaboration, academic excellence, and higher education in the R&I dimension.

Materials and Methods

We performed a narrative synthesis of A4L_BRIDGE activities between March 2024 and July 2026, focusing on transferable best practices.

Results

A4L_BRIDGE operates through eight thematic focus groups – Science Evaluation, Research Ethics & Integrity, Human Resources & Mobility, Grants & Research Funding, Core Facilities, Technology Transfer, Science Communication, and Data – providing a multifaceted framework spanning research culture to hands-on collaboration, while reflecting on the strengths and constraints of working in Widening countries. Beyond annual meetings and bilateral visits, the project has launched an e-learning platform offering self-paced and instructor-led courses, and a Virtual Research Centre connecting academic and non-academic staff across partner institutions, supported by a Seed Fund providing grants of up to €15,000 for small collaborative projects emerging from the Centre. In 2026, representatives of Vilnius University coordinated the first call for internships, successfully enabling 32 short on-site research visits (40.3 person-weeks) and 24 job-shadowing placements (16.4 person-weeks) for non-academic staff, reinforcing bilateral collaboration.

Conclusions

A4L_BRIDGE offers a replicable model of regional academic consolidation across Widening countries, providing scaffolding for the institutional development needed to close the R&I gap with Western European research and innovation ecosystems.