Research projects

CREDIT Vibes was a European project funded under the Horizon Europe programme, aimed at strengthening research excellence, supporting institutional transformation and improving knowledge and technology transfer in the fields of agriculture and food.

The project brought together creativity, research, education, development, innovation and transformation (Creativity, Research, Education, Development, Innovation and Transformation – CREDIT), with particular emphasis on training highly qualified research and non-research staff.

The project’s main objective was to support the structural transformation of the Serbian Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje (MRI) and strengthen its research capacity, international visibility and participation in the European Research Area. This was achieved through collaboration between MRI and two established European research institutions – the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

An important research focus was the development of nutribreeding, an approach that combines plant breeding with improving the nutritional quality of crops. The project focused primarily on maize and soybean, as well as the development of plant material and products with enhanced nutritional and bioactive properties.

CREDIT Vibes aimed to generate wider scientific, economic and societal impacts. By improving organisational capacities, developing new research directions and strengthening international cooperation, it sought to establish a model of institutional transformation that could also be adopted by other research institutions in Serbia and the wider region. One of its long-term objectives was to increase knowledge and agricultural technology transfer to industry by 15%.

Main Activities and Results

The project combined research, organisational and educational activities aimed at improving MRI’s research excellence and long-term competitiveness.

The main activities included:

• Developing new research directions in nutribreeding, focusing on maize and soybean, their nutritional quality and suitability for organic production systems.
• Facilitating knowledge and experience exchange between partner institutions and providing training for research and non-research staff.
• Preparing an institutional transformation strategy, including capacity building in project management, technology transfer and intellectual property management.
• Strengthening international networking and improving opportunities for participation in future European research projects.
• Disseminating research results and fostering connections between the scientific community, the agricultural sector and industry.

As a co-coordinator, the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (KIS) played an important role in transferring research and organisational knowledge, providing professional training and implementing joint project activities.

The collaboration also contributed to the exchange of expertise in plant genetics and breeding and strengthened long-term research links between the partner institutions.

Partnership

The project was coordinated by Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje (Serbia) under the leadership of Dr Kristina Petrović.

The international consortium consisted of three research institutions:

Coordinator:

• Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje (MRI), Serbia

Project Partners:

• Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (KIS), Slovenia
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece

The partnership followed the Twinning approach, which aims to connect research institutions and facilitate the transfer of knowledge, experience and good practices to strengthen research excellence.

Funding

CREDIT Vibes received funding from the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, through the Twinning Western Balkans Special call.