Jürgen Schreder, Advantage Austria director for Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia

Austrian companies place a strong focus on the services sector, while there is growing interest in green energy and the opening of production plants in Serbia

With the global changes and challenges we’ve seen in recent years, it shouldn’t be surprising that we see increasing interest in Serbia from Austrian and other European companies when choosing a new location for a production facility, says Jürgen Schreder, director of Advantage Austria for Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

“Geographical proximity to Austria, a qualified labour force and labour costs make Serbia an attractive location for investments. The overall business environment is also perceived as rather good, while companies also rate the quality and availability of local suppliers.

“Furthermore, Austria and Serbia have had close ties for decades and, with the substantial number of Serbian expats resident in Austria, it is often an easy choice when it comes to deciding on market entry,” explains our interlocutor.

How has the structure of Austrian investments in Serbia changed over time and how do Austrian investors assess Serbia’s major strengths when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment? What are Serbia’s key strengths in these times of labour shortages?

— Austrian companies have been in operation in Serbia for an exceedingly long time and were able to establish themselves very successfully on the market, for example in the banking, insurance or transportation sectors. We still see strong interest in the services sector, although there’s been an increase within the field of green energy and we’ve also seen increased interest in opening production plants here in Serbia since the pandemic.

Compared to Austria, Serbia still has greater workforce availability, and that workforce is skilled thanks to the introduction of dual vocational education and training. Companies are able to participate in this educational model and train the workforce to suit their needs, as well as to introduce an industry standard, which in return motivates companies. The high degree of digitalisation within the business environment and the well-developed ICT sector is another strength of Serbia that Austrian companies value a lot. It also helps that a lot of international IT companies have offices here and further push the development of this sector.

Promoting school-based and dual vocational education and training in Serbia is one of Austria’s top priorities. How do you assess the progress made to date and its impact on investments?

— The programme has been ongoing for several years now and the progress achieved has been quite good, thanks to the amazing support to companies through the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Serbian. We have been cooperating with the CCIS in this sector for years and Austrian subsidiaries also engage in this programme and have been quite satisfied. As for investments, Austrian companies are familiar with Dual-Vet from Austria, where it is very well established and represents one of the main pillars of our business environment. Without Dual-Vet, the workforce situation and business sector would look very different in Austria and there is a high chance that the country would have looked very different without it.

Serbia’s advanced level of digitalisation and well-developed ICT sector are significant strengths that are highly rated by Austrian companies

However, establishing an educational programme takes a lot of time and Serbia still has some catching up to do compared to the DACH-region. We are now at a point at which it is crucial for the CCIS and companies to keep working together, and for companies to voice their needs to ensure the programme keeps moving in the right direction.

To what extent are Austrian companies open to the possibility of cooperation with Serbian start-ups? Is Serbia also still an attractive environment for investments in the IT sector?

— Serbia is an incredibly attractive market for Austrian companies operating in the IT sector. We have seen increasing cooperation between Austrian and Serbian companies in these sectors in particular, and it shouldn’t be surprising that this is also reflected in the bilateral export of services, where Serbia surpasses Austria. This has increased significantly in recent years, and we do believe that the IT sector has a major influence on this. Serbia has established itself as the Hub of everything IT in the Western Balkans and the growth of the ICT sector in Serbia has also impressed Austrian companies. Interestingly enough, there are ever-more Austrian- Serbian companies, where there is a mix of co-founders from Austria and Serbia operating in the ICT sector.

We’ve previously worked together with NALED in the start-up sector and they have been a very important partner for us. With their help, we were able to bring interesting Serbian startups to ViennaUp and they made a buzz there and generated rather a lot of interest among Austrian companies.

How do you perceive the opportunities created by EXPO 2027 and the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans?

— The EU Growth Plan is a commitment from the EU to the Western Balkans, and Serbia can profit from it. There is a lot of funding available, which companies can also benefit from, but it is the responsibility of the government to use this funding correctly. The same could be said for the specialised Expo 2027. The government has thus far made a lot of promises that Serbia would benefit from.

As far as it concerns us, we want to position companies locally and raise awareness of the event among people in Austria. As the official invitation for Austrian participation is still pending, we do see an interest among Austrian companies, which are known for the quality of their products, in working together with local companies to make the whole event truly unique. Our companies are ready to provide their products and knowhow.