The RI2integrate two-day Kick-off event took place in Szeged, Hungary, between 9 and 10 March 2017. The two-part event was divided into the public part, which took place on 9 March, and the project-oriented part, which took place on 10 March 2017.

The project, its issues, and goals were presented to the broader public. All project partners gathered to discuss the state of the art review of project-related issues and agreed on future steps of project implementation. The entire group also paid a visit to new state of the art Eli facilities in Szeged.

The main objective of the RI2integrate project is to exploit the economic development potential and to enhance the integration of operations of the EU’s excellent R&D Infrastructure (RI) investment projects by devising and implementing innovative tools for policy learning on the macro-regional embeddedness in the Danube Region.

The main result is the improved transfer of scientific results into the economy in the Danube Region, in line with the different needs of participating countries, which originates from the improvement of cross-linking between R&D facilities, SMEs, community and government.