Facts and figures

Montenegro is a small country in the Balkans with a coastline on the Adriatic Sea. A parliamentary republic, Montenegro declared independence from a former union with Serbia in 2006 following a national referendum. It is a candidate country of the European Union, and a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.¹

The country is one of the fastest growing tourism destinations in Europe. Travel and tourism account for 25% of its Gross Domestic Product. ²

Montenegro was the first non-EU country to implement a Smart Specialisation Strategy focusing on strengthening innovation-related aspects of research. The strategy priority areas are sustainable agriculture, energy and sustainable environment, sustainable and health tourism, and information and communication technologies.³ Montenegro has participated in EU Research and Innovation programmes since 2008. ⁴

There are four universities in the country. The University of Montenegro is the largest and provides 60%of all available study programmes. Montenegro has an average of 24,500 enrolled students per year in bachelor, masters and doctoral studies. ⁵

Around 40% of Montenegrin adults attain a tertiary education ⁶ and the country had 2,330 people working in research and development in 2019. Gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in 2019 was 17.98 million Euro or 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product. The main sectors financing GERD in 2019 were the government and higher education sectors.⁷

The European Patent Office received six applications from residents of Montenegro in 2024.⁸ Life scientists in Montenegro have access to funding from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation and through Horizon Europe and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions⁹ as well as EMBO.