Science Technology Park Belgrade (STP Belgrade), announced with the support of the Swiss Government and in partnership with Science Technology Park Nis (STP Niš) and Science Technology Park Čačak (STP Čacak), a new public call for Raising Starts, the first Serbian pre-seed program that provides both professional and financial support to startup teams and companies in the earliest stages of development to accelerate the development of an innovative idea.

The program includes intensive business development training, mentoring, and up to CHF 15,000 (no equity) to cover the costs of prototyping, business model development, market research, first customer testing, intellectual property protection, and other costs related to developing new products or services.

Applications are open until December 28 on the official website of the program.

Startup teams of at least 2 members and innovative companies established no longer than two years before the date of publication of the Public Call can apply.

By participating in the program, startup teams and companies will gain the necessary knowledge and skills to overcome obstacles on the road from innovative idea to investment readiness and entering the global market. The goal is to support the establishment and development of new innovative companies that will contribute to increasing exports, new employment, and reducing brain drain, enabling young people in Serbia to develop innovative businesses from their cities, side by side with the world. In addition to comprehensive training, startups will receive special support in the field of intellectual property, and they will be provided with access to state of art innovation laboratories, mentors, investors, and other startup founders in the network of science technology parks.

Raising Starts is the first pre-seed program in Serbia that provides both professional and financial support to startups in the earliest stages of development, which is one of the prerequisites for further development of the local startup ecosystem.

Program Raising Starts is created through the project “Technopark Serbia 2 –Boosting exports through technoparks” under the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia (on behalf of the RS Government: Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development) and the Swiss  Government (on behalf of the Swiss Government: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO). The project is conducted by Science Technology Park Belgrade, in partnership with Science Technology Park Niš and Science Technology Park Čačak.

At the first public call for the Raising Starts program at the end of 2020, out of 183 registered teams, 13 of them received comprehensive professional and financial support for the accelerated development of innovative ideas. Through several public calls, Raising Starts will, in the next three years, with the support of the Swiss Government, support the establishment and development of up to 100 new startup companies in the regions of Belgrade, Niš, and Čačak.