Our region has a perspective and developed models for supporting entrepreneurship, and mutual cooperation and exchange of experience is a necessity for further growth and development of start-ups, the participants of the “Difficulty to grown alone” panel, agreed today during the second day of the Western Balkans Digital Summit, which was held in Belgrade. The greatest challenge in this process will be to retain talents necessary for even faster growing of ecosystem.

On the panel moderated by Acting Director of Science Technology Park Belgrade, Gordana Danilović Grković, participated Kosta Andrić, managing partner in ICT Hub, Radovan Jovanović from company Uniplast, Nenad Moslavac co-founder of Impact Hub, Velibor Boskovic, executive director of Science Technology Park in Podgorica, and Robert Martic, director of BIT Technology Park from Tuzla.

The panel was preceded by the presentation of the Science Technology Park Belgrade, as a successful example of a developed instrument for the support of commercialization of innovations and technological entrepreneurship, within which, after three years of establishment, 70 companies are operating. Danilović-Grković pointed out that during that time, a model is developed that could be transferred further, and because of the necessity of adapting the development model to each individual market, it is necessary to exchange experiences and learn from each other.

Participants emphasized that it is important to systematically use a regional network of cooperation in order to generate new products and help start-ups on the market, both locally and globally. Particular attention has been paid to the development of those services and products tailored to the needs of the market, as in this way the development of the startup community will generate new jobs and will contribute to a sustainable economy.

The joint forces of the region, involving both the private and the public sector, need to further work on the creation of such support instruments and adapt the developed models to the local level, encouraging at the same time all, and especially young people, to launch entrepreneurial initiatives and to work on promoting innovation in their cities and regions.

The aim of the Western Balkans Digital Summit, which brought together in Belgrade the ministers of information society and digital agenda from the region, representatives of international institutions, regional organizations, academia, as well as representatives of the IT industry and startups, is established digital platform for the exchange of ideas and proposals. During the Summit, the visitors had an opportunity to hear more about the services and programs for startup and technology development companies within the boot of STP Belgrade and boots of some of the members of STP Belgrade: SmartResearch, Educated, mBrain Train, Zumoko, Easy Tech …