The President of the European Research Council, Professor Maria Leptin, visited Estonia to explore the country's research landscape and discuss the growing success of Estonian scientists in securing prestigious ERC grants. In conversation with Trialoog’s editor Silver Tambur, she reflected on Estonia’s achievements, the role of scientific freedom, and her personal leadership journey.
Silver Tambur
At the Smart City Exchange Forum, hundreds of city visionaries gathered to discuss how data, artificial intelligence, and collaboration could transform cities in Estonia and Europe into human-centered and sustainable environments.
In Estonia, cross-sector collaboration is gaining momentum thanks to SekMo, the Intersectoral Mobility Support measure, which enables researchers and top specialists to move between academic and non-academic fields. During the first round, which concluded last year, €5.9 million was allocated to 65 projects to accelerate innovation and research-intensive solutions across various sectors.
At the sTARTUp Day 2025 festival in Tartu, the highest recognition went to SafePAS – a startup founded by TalTech Associate Professor Jekaterina Mazina-Šinkar. The company is developing Drug Hunter, a portable device for rapid drug detection.