October 2, 2026

From 23–25 September, we joined the Teaming community in Riga for the 5th Teaming Club Conference 2026, hosted by BBCE at Riga Technical University (RTU) under the theme “Connect. Collaborate. Create Impact.”

Over three days, the programme brought together discussions on the future of Widening, sustainability of Centres of Excellence, complementary funding, advanced partner involvement, AI in research and project management, industry collaboration and research ecosystems, alongside B2B matchmaking and exchanges between Teaming Centres.

One message particularly resonated with us: building sustainable Centres of Excellence is a shared learning process. Challenges are part of the journey; what matters is learning from one another, openly exchanging experiences and making better use of the knowledge and experience of our advanced partners.

This is also what Teaming is ultimately about. Strengthening research and innovation capacity in one Widening country does not benefit that country alone — a stronger and more balanced R&I ecosystem strengthens Europe as a whole.

Türkiye is part of this collective effort and through TEAM-NANO, we aim to strengthen our own scientific and institutional capacity while contributing to Europe’s broader research and innovation landscape.

We return from Riga with new connections, shared experiences and many ideas to take forward.