With the aim of creating Strategy for Research and Innovation for Smart Specialization, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development organized an event in the Science Technology Park Belgrade on the occasion of starting the public-private dialogue with key representatives of the economy, academia and government sector.
– By creating a Research and Innovation Strategy for smart specialization, policymakers will get a realistic picture and knowledge of potential priority areas, and will be able to identify financial resources and invest in these areas. In this way, the competitiveness of the Serbian economy based on knowledge and innovations can be enhanced – said Mladen Šarčević, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, adding that “certain funds have already been defined for the implementation of this Strategy through the programs of the Innovation Fund and the Science Fund, but that, in government coordination, other key ministries will also support the implementation of Strategy.”
EDP Kick-off event, which today brought together representatives of industry, research institutions, individual innovators, policy makers, decision-makers as well as representatives of civil society, marked the beginning of workshops within the EDP process.
Gordana Danilović Grković, acting director of STP Belgrade, welcomed the guests on behalf of STP Belgrade and pointed out that such initiatives are the right direction we need to follow in order to develop as a knowledge-based society and reminded the participants of the STP Belgrade’s results, which as a place of mergers and exchanges between institutions, science and economy, is a real example of what it can be achieved with this support instruments.
The Republic of Serbia is in the process of developing the Smart Specialization Strategy Serbia (4S), coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development with other relevant institutions and team of experts. The drafting of the Strategy aims to identify areas of specialization in which Serbia achieves competitive advantages and potential. In order to achieve greater public investment effects, the identified areas will have greater support, tailored to the needs and opportunities of each area.
– As representatives of the government sector, we have a task to hear the voice of those most tackled with this, which is the essence of the Smart Specialization Strategy. This is the first Strategy that is trying to reach the key priority areas in which to invest, and the aim is to make our society and our economy regional, European and globally competitive on the basis of future investments in these areas – emphasized prof. Dr. Viktor Nedović, State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.
Smart specialization is a unique approach that characterizes the identification of strategic areas for intervention based on the analysis of the strengths and potentials of economy and science, and within the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP), or public-private dialogue with broad involvement of stakeholders.
– Why is smart specialization so important for both us and the European Union? Because it finds the strengths and potentials of the candidate countries so that the economy and science of these countries can be more easily integrated into the European space – explained Nikola Radovanović from the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, whose role is to monitor and assist the implementation of this process in the Republic of Serbia.
