The CROSS-REIS project, funded under the Horizon Europe European Excellence Initiative, aims to strengthen research excellence and to foster innovation ecosystems that support the transition towards a regenerative economy. This month the project features in “Lideri održivosti” (Sustainability Leaders), the premium magazine of the Montenegrin daily Vijesti, with a four-page interview with the project coordinator, prof. Jelena Stanković of the Faculty of Economics, University of Niš. The interview runs on pages 78 to 81 under the headline “Nauka i privreda moraju da govore istim jezikom”, “Science and business must speak the same language”.
After the print edition, Vijesti made the magazine available online on 23 September 2026. It brings together 38 stories about people, companies, institutions and initiatives contributing to the sustainable development of Montenegro. Vijesti also organise the conference “Održivo liderstvo: Od odluke do uticaja”, taking place in Podgorica on 24 September, where CROSS-REIS is one of the partners. The full interview can be read on this page.
The interview opens with the basics. Prof. Stanković describes CROSS-REIS as a network for research excellence in regenerative economy, which links institutions from countries still establishing themselves in the European Research Area with leading European universities and research centres. Asked why the project speaks of a regenerative rather than simply a circular economy, she explains that the circular economy teaches us to use resources more wisely, while the regenerative approach sets a more ambitious goal: not only to do less harm, but to actively restore what nature and communities give us. In practice the project works on three connected themes: the circular economy, waste management linked to social inclusion, and urban biodiversity.
A large part of the conversation is about Montenegro, which prof. Stanković calls one of the load-bearing pillars of the project. The cooperation runs through the University of Montenegro and its Faculty of Economics in Podgorica, led by prof. Ana Lalević Filipović. She points to the MICEB 2026 CROSS-REIS Edition, held in Podgorica from 28 to 30 May 2026 on policy, governance and international cooperation for the green transition, and in particular to its panel on women in science and its student session for master's and doctoral researchers. A thematic monograph arising from the conference is being prepared for Springer, co-edited by colleagues from Montenegro.
Connecting research with business is one of the project's pillars, and the interview takes its headline from it. Prof. Stanković recalls the business forums held so far, from “Održivost 2.0” in Niš to the Business Forum 2026 in Opatija with experts from the OECD, and announces that Montenegro will host the next one in 2027. She also presents the project's living labs, with the tree-labelling programme in the centre of Niš as the example, and a regional study on waste management and informal waste collection across the Western Balkans, starting in 2027.
Prof. Stanković closes with an invitation to businesses, institutions, students and citizens of Montenegro to join the project's forums, living labs and research. In her words, sustainability “is not an abstract concept from European strategies, but an everyday question of the quality of life, of the air we breathe, the waste we create and the opportunities we leave to young people” (our translation).
The interview was published in Montenegrin. Click any page to open it, or download all four pages as a PDF. The complete magazine is available on Vijesti's website.
Read the full magazine on Vijesti: here.