Mihailo Jovanovic, Director of the Serbian Office for IT & eGovernment

Belgrade’s hosting of the Ministerial Summit of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence will strengthen Serbia’s position as an important player in the global development of AI

Belgrade is hosting the Ministerial Summit of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence on 3rd and 4th December, marking the first time this event has been held in Europe.

This was among the key topics that we discussed with Mihailo Jovanović, director of the Office for IT & eGovernment.

We began our conversation by citing data showing that the export of Serbia’s ICT services reached €2.96 billion over the first nine months of 2024, marking a 19% increase compared to the same period of 2023.

How much has this sector recovered from the crisis and what are your expectations moving forward?

— The data published by the National Bank of Serbia reflect the continuous growth and progress of our ICT sector. In September alone, Serbia achieved record ICT exports of €338 million, 20% more than in September 2023, which highlights the sector’s steady growth and increasing contribution to the country’s economic balance.

The ICT services surplus of €2.3 billion for the first nine months of 2024 is a significant indicator, particularly regarding its impact on GDP and Serbia’s foreign currency stability. This surplus enables not only the sector’s sustainability, but also further investment in new technologies and support for domestic innovation.

Given current trends and growth dynamics, we expect the ICT sector to continue playing a leading role in Serbia’s economy, contributing increasingly to national economic growth.

The State Data Centre in Kragujevac, which also hosts the first National Platform for Artificial Intelligence, is a key symbol of Serbia’s digital transformation. What are your plans when it comes to applying AI to improve public administration?

— Serbia adopted its Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy for 2020–2025 back in 2019, becoming the first country in Southeast Europe to have such a document.

The new government led by Prime Minister Miloš Vučević has already demonstrated a strong commitment to digitalisation and new technologies, particularly AI. Within the administration’s first 100 days, the Prime Minister established the Artificial Intelligence Council, bringing together leading experts from public administration, industry and academia.

As a regional leader in AI, Serbia will continue investing in this field. The State Data Centre currently houses a supercomputer powered by four NVIDIA DGX A100 systems with 32 GPUs, 1,024 processor threads and 150 TB of storage, delivering five petaflops of AI performance.

Serbia is set to adopt one of the most significant strategic documents of the decade: the artificial intelligence development strategy for 2024–2030

This system will be upgraded early next year, with six additional NVIDIA DGX H200 systems with 48 GPUs, which are seven times faster, along with an additional 120 TB of storage.

Significantly, Serbia will soon adopt one of the most important strategic documents of our time: the Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy for 2024–2030.

This document will guide modernisation across all sectors – not only in the economy, but also in education, energy, transport, environmental protection and healthcare, making AI a cornerstone of societal progress.

A partnership with CERN has also been announced. What are the key benefits of this collaboration for Serbia?

— In December 2023, Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CERN to collaborate on the implementation and operation of the Global LHC (Large Hadron Collider) computing grid at the State Data Centre in Kragujevac.

We are proud that Serbia is one of only 24 member states of the world’s largest scientific laboratory.

Thanks to the exceptional capabilities of the Kragujevac Data Centre, we are not only ready to store, but also to analyse and process data for one of the LHC’s four main experiments—CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid).

Serbia is likely to be among the first countries classified as TIER1 (one level below CERN’s own data centre), with the goal of reaching 10% of all TIER1 resources.

The entire system, forming part of the Global LHC computing grid, will be designed by our own engineers with the aim of introducing new trends. Additionally, our IT professionals will gain valuable expertise in managing complex systems, creating a new generation of specialists able to apply their knowledge across other scientific domains.

As the main national partner, you are implementing the three-year project “Click with Citizens” in collaboration with relevant ministries. What are the primary goals of this initiative and what will it mean for your administration and for citizens?

— The launch of the project “Centre for Digital Services Development – Click with Citizens” marks a new chapter for the Office of IT and eGovernment.

It is extremely important for us to hear the voices of the users of our services.

With the support of partners such as UNDP, UNICEF and FAO, we will listen to and study our most important target group: the citizens of Serbia.

The Belgrade summit will see more than 500 experts, including 70 speakers, discuss the responsible development of AI and its application for the benefit of society

Our aim is to include citizens in every stage of digital service development, involving them in design and testing to ensure services are accessible, user friendly, available on all devices and inclusive of people with disabilities. We are also focusing on understanding the barriers faced by non-users of e-services, striving to simplify processes and reduce steps.

To achieve this, we will introduce new procedures and tools to our daily work and train our staff in citizen-focused service design. Over the next three years, we aim to perfect this new approach in such a way that citizen-oriented service development becomes the standard for digital public services.

Belgrade is hosting the Ministerial Summit of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence on 3rd and 4th December, which will include the participation of ministers and leading experts from around the world. What will be the key topics of this summit?

— Belgrade will undoubtedly become the global centre for the development of artificial intelligence in early December. This is the first time such an event is being held in Europe, further solidifying Serbia’s position on the global stage.

The summit will focus primarily on the responsible development of artificial intelligence and its application for the benefit of society as a whole. We expect over 500 experts, including more than 70 speakers, to participate across 25 sessions. We additionally plan to sign the Belgrade Declaration during this event.