Building Strong Partnerships for European Research and Innovation

The Foundation for Innovation and Research – Malta (FiR.mt) works with researchers, industry, public authorities, civil society, and communities to design, implement, and scale European research and innovation actions.

Our role is to connect ideas, infrastructures, data, and people into coherent, impact-driven collaborations aligned with Europe’s strategic priorities.
We act as a facilitator and enabler, supporting partners from early concept development through to implementation, validation, and long-term impact.

Our Mission

To promote the advancement of innovation and research for humanity throughout the Mediterranean, highlighting the role of Malta as a hub of knowledge between Europe and the region and to support the ongoing Maltese economy expansion into an innovation-led economy. [Statute, 2019]

Hence, The Foundation for Innovation and Research – Malta (FiR.mt) supports excellent, responsible, and impactful research and innovation that addresses Europe’s societal, environmental, and technological challenges through:

• inclusive collaboration across academia, industry, public authorities, and society
• real-world experimentation and Living Labs
• strong coordination and project leadership.

Our Vision

We envision a Europe where innovation is:

• Scientifically robust
• Socially responsible
• Environmentally sustainable
• Meaningful for citizens and communities

FiR.mt places people, systems, and evidence at the centre of innovation, ensuring that research outcomes translate into tangible societal, environmental, and economic value.

Our Values

Our work is guided by core principles that shape every collaboration:

• Interdisciplinarity – Integrating engineering, digital technologies, environmental sciences, and social sciences
• Evidence-based research – Grounding innovation in high-quality data and real-world validation
• Open science and transparency – Supporting FAIR data, open access, and ethical research practices
• Societal relevance – Designing projects that respond to real needs and policy priorities
• Long-term impact – Ensuring continuity beyond individual project lifetimes

How We Work

FiR.mt supports European projects through an integrated collaboration model that combines:

• Interdisciplinary research, embedding SSH alongside STEM from the outset
• Living Labs and real-world environments for experimentation, validation, and demonstration
• Co-creation with stakeholders, including citizens, public authorities, and industry
• Data-driven approaches, aligned with European standards and data governance principles
• Strong coordination and management, strengthening implementation quality and reducing risk

This model is particularly suited to:

• Research & Innovation Actions (RIA)
• Innovation Actions (IA)
• Coordination & Support Actions (CSA)
• Mission-oriented and place-based initiatives

Working with Local Communities and Stakeholders

FiR.mt places local communities, public authorities, and stakeholders at the centre of research and innovation activities, recognising their essential role in achieving societal relevance, legitimacy, and long-term impact.

Through our Living Labs and applied research environments, we actively engage:

• Local and regional authorities
• Infrastructure operators and public service providers
• Industry and SMEs
• Civil society organisations
• Citizens, end users, and user groups

This engagement enables co-creation, real-world validation, and evidence-based decision-making, ensuring that research outcomes respond to concrete needs while remaining scalable to European contexts.

Living Labs as Spaces for Co-Creation and Trust

Our Living Labs function as trusted spaces for collaboration, where researchers, practitioners, and communities work together to:

• Test and adapt solutions under real-life conditions
• Integrate social, behavioural, and technical perspectives
• Build skills, awareness, and ownership among stakeholders
• Support policy development and regulatory learning

This approach strengthens the social robustness of innovation and supports smoother pathways from research to deployment.

Linking Local Action to European Impact

By operating at the intersection of local implementation and European ambition, FiR.mt ensures that:

• Local pilots generate transferable and comparable knowledge
• Stakeholder engagement informs policy-relevant evidence
• Community-driven insights contribute to European-scale solutions

Malta’s scale provides an effective testbed for place-based innovation, enabling rapid feedback while maintaining relevance for larger and more complex European systems.

A European Network, Rooted in Malta

While rooted in Malta, FiR.mt operates as part of a wider European research and innovation ecosystem, collaborating with:

• Universities and research organisations
• Industry and SMEs
• Public authorities and regulators
• Civil society organisations
• European and international networks

This positioning allows FiR.mt to bridge local implementation with European coordination, supporting projects that are both context-sensitive and scalable.

Local & National Research and Innovation Ecosystem

FiR.mt operates at the interface between European research programmes and Malta’s national innovation ecosystem, ensuring strong alignment between local priorities and European ambitions.

We actively collaborate with and support initiatives funded through national and sectoral instruments, including:

• Xjenza Malta, supporting national research, innovation capacity building, and European programme participation
• The Energy and Water Agency, enabling research and policy-relevant experimentation in energy systems, water management, and sustainability
• The Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector, supporting citizen engagement, social innovation, and inclusive participation
• Arts Council Malta, fostering cross-disciplinary links between creativity, culture, technology, and society
• Government-led initiatives and schemes, supporting economic diversification, skills development, digitalisation, and sustainability

These national instruments play a critical role in:

• piloting concepts and technologies at local and regional scale
• strengthening institutional and stakeholder capacity
• preparing organisations and communities for European-scale collaboration

FiR.mt uses national and local initiatives as stepping stones toward European actions, enabling:

• early-stage experimentation and validation
• stakeholder mobilisation and co-creation
• data generation under real-world conditions
• capacity building for future Horizon Europe participation

This approach ensures continuity between local investment, European funding, and long-term societal impact.

Supporting Europe’s Strategic Priorities

FiR.mt contributes across a wide range of European research and innovation domains, including:

• Energy systems, smart grids, and renewables
• Photovoltaics, reliability, and infrastructure monitoring
• Digitalisation, AI, and data platforms
• Mobility, infrastructure, and the built environment
• Climate adaptation, environmental monitoring, and resilience
• Social sciences, skills, education, and citizen engagement

This cross-cutting positioning supports actions under:

• Horizon Europe Pillar II clusters
• EU Missions
• WIDERA actions
• Green, Digital, and Just Transition priorities

From Ideas to Impact

FiR.mt supports partners across the full project lifecycle, including:

• Early-stage concept development aligned with future calls
• Consortium building and role definition
• Integration of Living Labs and infrastructures
• Proposal structuring and implementation logic
• Monitoring, reporting, and compliance
• Exploitation, dissemination, and sustainability planning

This continuity strengthens proposal credibility, delivery quality, and long-term impact.

Looking Ahead

European research increasingly emphasises implementation quality, scalability, and measurable impact.
FiR.mt is committed to supporting collaborations that are future-ready, policy-relevant, and grounded in real-world contexts.

Let’s work together to shape the next generation of Malta and European research and innovation.