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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement for financing scientific research, start-up community in Serbia signed

Belgrade, 19 May 2022

In the presence of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and President of the European Council Charles Michel, an agreement was signed today which will enable a joint financing of scientific research and the start-up community in Serbia by the European Union and the World Bank in the total amount of €84.5 million.

The agreement was signed at the Belgrade Science and Technology Park by Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Emanuel Giaufret and representative of the World Bank to Serbia Dusan Vasiljevic.

From the project’s total value, the EU will donate €41.5 million, whereas the World Bank will give a €43 million loan. The project will be implemented in association with the Serbian Science Fund and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.

Before the signing of the agreement, Vucic and Michel visited the Belgrade Science and Technology Park together with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Branko Ruzic, Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic, Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic and others.

The Serbian President underlined that in the first three months of this year our country made exports in the IT sector in the amount of approximately €600 million.

He said that one more building needs to be built for the Belgrade Science and Technology Park as four years ago there were only twenty or so innovative companies, while today there are approximately 120.

Brnabic stated that investments in science and new technologies will continue and announced that this year, the total export of Serbia’s ICT sector will stand at €2.5 billion, with a surplus of €1.5 billion, by which the export goal of this sector will be achieved.

Now the focus is on the development of artificial intelligence, bioengineering and biomedicine, the Prime Minister pointed out and added that four campuses will be built in which these technologies will be developed over the next four years.

The Belgrade Science and Technology Park is the first park of this kind opened in 2015, and in 2016 we founded the Ministerial Council for Innovative Entrepreneurship and Information Technologies, which marked the beginning of the state’s serious involvement with innovation and investment in start-ups and development, she said.

That is when the creation of basis for transition of the economy from labour intensive towards the economy based on knowledge and technologies started, Brnabic noted.

The Prime Minister recalled that in Serbia, there are also science and technology parks in Nis, Cacak and Novi Sad, apart from the one in Belgrade, and that all were built with the help of soft loans from the European Investment Bank.

She added that a large part of partnership of Serbia and the EU takes place in the innovation sector and that we have even more ambitious plans.

Namely, we are finishing negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on €400 million for faculties, science, equipment and the expansion of science and technology parks.

One more building of 16,000 square metres will be built in Belgrade, we are discussing expansion with Cacak and Nis, as for Novi Sad there is still no need for that because they can find partners in the private sector, the Prime Minister stated.