Abstract

Universities served as important research centres in the effort to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. The extent and nature of research, development, and innovation (RDI) at universities in eight Central-Eastern European (CEE) nations were examined in this study in light of the pandemic and its associated demands. Using pandemic-related keywords, relevant postings from all Facebook posts between March 2020 and June 2021 were further retrieved, coded, and evaluated [1]. Our data showed that the universities' RDI efforts throughout the epidemic differed significantly from one another. When compared to the rest of the CEE sample universities, Austrian universities showed higher levels of inter-institutional research and commercial collaborations [2]. The pandemic brought on urgent needs. Understanding the RDI potential of the region and the importance of developing inter-institutional and commercial cooperation networks at national and international levels is one of the study's major achievements [3]. According to the report, during the pandemic universities exhibited strong RDI potential to respond promptly to urgent demands, provided open innovations and open licencing, shown collaborative skills, and made efficient use of their academic and student resources [4].