Jelena Begović, Serbian Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation

EXPO 2027 provides an excellent opportunity for our science and innovation ecosystem, including over 700 start-ups in Serbia. This exposition will enable us to present our innovative capacities and achievements

The Government of the Republic of Serbia is working actively to prepare for EXPO 2027, in order to utilise this event with the aim of maximally promoting our potential at all levels, because the EXPO is primarily an opportunity for us to present ourselves to the world as a land of creative people ~ says Dr Jelena Begović, Serbian Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, speaking in this interview.

According to our interviewee, this specialised exhibition is set to impact our economy very positively, firstly and most directly through tourism, with almost four million people expected to visit Serbia throughout the course of the expo. “But EXPO 2027 also has a broader dimension, because it is promoting Serbia as an attractive destination for investments thanks to its high-quality and highly talented people, as well as a motivating environment for doing business,” says Begović.

“One of the key initiatives that our ministry will present with pride is the BIO4 Campus, which will become the centre of gravity for domestic and foreign experts, from both academia and the private sector, who will work together to jointly develop innovations in the fields of biotechnology, biodiversity, biomedicine, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.”

How is this huge job advancing?

— We take advantage of every opportunity to entice more partners when it comes to the project to construct the BIO4 Campus, which is why I went to Mainz to participate in the Curious2024 – Future Insight conference of company Merck, with which we have a Memorandum of Cooperation signed within the specific framework of joint work on the Campus. I presented our idea of the BIO4 Campus to eminent scientists from all over the world. It is likewise significant to mention that a Public Call is currently underway for expressions of interest in renting space at the BIO4 Campus and all interested parties can apply, and they can find all essential information about applying on the website of the Ministry, as well as on the official BIO4 Campus website.

Support mechanisms for innovation through FDI place a focus on enticing global companies to establish their research and development centres in Serbia

The BIO4 Campus is Serbia’s largest project in the field of biotechnology. The construction of this complex is advancing according to the planned dynamic and is expected to be completed by 2027. We’ve already established international cooperation on numerous fronts, including contracts with major global companies like Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and Roche, and we most recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Medtronic. The BIO4 Campus will become a centre of biotech research and development, providing top laboratory facilities and infrastructure.

What are your future ambitions?

— We want to reach out to every innovator in the Republic of Serbia. We’ve networked innovation start-up centres nationwide and directed them towards closer cooperation, primarily with Science and Technology Parks [NTPs], but also with the private sector, where we see great potential.

We’re continuing to expand existing NTPs and build new ones. Work is underway on the construction of a regional industrial-technological park in Kruševac on an area of 10,000 square metres. This will also be a unique site in Serbia, focused on the research and development of both services and products, but also production. We recently laid foundation stones for a total of 27,000 square metres of new space in Čačak and Niš, which really produce excellent innovative companies. The innovation centre in Loznica is now operating on an area of 800 square metres and is the 24th consecutive innovation centre to be established in Serbia. The plan for the period ahead is to open an innovation centre in Novi Pazar that will sprawl over an area exceeding 1,300 square metres.

Every expansion of science-innovation infrastructure that we implement in Serbia is done specifically to enable science and the private sector to be more strongly connected, on a sturdier and more stable basis.

One of Serbia’s objectives is to turn this country that already has a strong IT industry, supporting the world’s leading companies, into a nursery for its own start-ups. How much have we advanced in this area and to what extent does the construction of science and technology parks contribute to utilising knowledge resources around the region?

— Serbia has made significant gains on the development of its start-up scene, while exports of ICT products and services rose significantly in the first five months of this year, up 20.5% compared to the same period of last year. Testifying to just how much we’re progressing is the fact that we had inflows of approximately €250 million from the export of ICT products and services in 2012 and €3.5 billion in 2023.

We are today already talking about expanding the capacity of existing NTPs, in order for us to be able to offer as many companies as possible – first and foremost start-ups – significant mentoring services and financial support for their development.

The reason for this capacity building is that existing capacities have already been fully utilised, while interest in this kind of support is still growing among innovators and start-up companies, but also among major companies that engage in research and development.

More than 750 start-up companies operate in Serbia today, almost half of which were established over the course of the previous two years. The NTPs that we already have in Novi Sad, Belgrade and Niš, and those under construction in Čačak and Kruševac, enable the optimal use of regional knowledge resources and help in the creation of a favourable milieu for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship. I think decentralisation is extremely important in this process, as it should enable young people to engage in innovative entrepreneurship across the whole of Serbia.

To what extent are start-ups today networked with large companies and how does the state encourage them to link up through the creation of a stimulating framework?

— Our Ministry implements two important programmes: the Programme for the Promotion and Popularisation of Innovative Activities in the Republic of Serbia; the Programme for the Formation and Development of Innovation Incubators at Scientific and Research Organisations in the Republic of Serbia. These programmes both aim to increase the visibility of Serbia’s innovation ecosystem through a range of activities, as well as introducing innovation incubators at scientific and research organisations, where they will work on the development of entrepreneurial skills, primarily in the academic community. We need more start-ups that emerge in the academic community.

We are developing a start-up ecosystem, enabling young innovators to access mentoring, financial resources and superior infrastructure

Our innovation infrastructure represents support for the development of a start-up culture and information. It includes 15 Makers Labs in secondary schools, 14 innovation incubators within scientific and research organisations, 24 regional innovation start-up centres, four science-technology parks and three funds providing financing for research and development in Serbia. Naturally, the national Innovation Fund is primarily responsible for start-ups and their cooperation with larger companies, but also with the academic community, by financially supporting such forms of cooperation through its calls. Alongside this aspect, science and technology parks are also places where those engaged in innovation cooperate, which is why they are vital to us. Together with our Ministry, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Serbia also provides strong support to the development of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Why is R&D in the private sector so essential today and what can we boast of in this area?

— Today’s largest global companies allocate a significant part of their profits specifically to research and development, as that represents their best chance of remaining competitive on the market. Quite simply, without development and without one’s own intellectual property and solutions, companies can no longer do business successfully.

When a country has research and development centres of large foreign companies, but also domestic ones, that’s always a good mechanism for attracting FDI, but also for swift economic growth and creating jobs for highly qualified and educated people.

The so-called brain drain is also thereby at least partially resolved, while it entices the influx of experts from all over the world. Our country is thus becoming a good destination for investments from all over the world.

We’ve already shown that it’s possible, firstly in the IT industry, and we can boast of the successful operations of our science and technology parks, an increasing number of investments in research and development, and growing cooperation between the private sector and academia. Infrastructural support mechanisms for the development of innovation and the acceleration of innovation development through FDI places a focus on enticing global companies to establish their research and development centres in the Republic of Serbia.

How much FDI is there in high-tech fields today and have we succeeded in maintaining and advancing the trend of foreign research facilities relocating to Serbia?

— Foreign direct investments in high technology fields in Serbia have experienced significant growth and investment in recent years, with a focus primarily on the ICT sector, electronics and the field of artificial intelligence. These technologies have really found very successful applications in Serbia, such as with the development of innovations that apply these technologies in agriculture, biotechnology, energy and the industry of autonomous and intelligent vehicles.

Serbia is positioning itself as a centre of research and development in Southeast Europe, enticing leading players in various industries, such as Stellantis, Toyo Tires, MTU Aero Engines, Mint Manufacturing, Schneider Electric, Rivian, Mei Ta Manufacturing, Vorwerk Manufacturing and Siemens. And more than 15,000 new jobs have been created through FDI since 2020. Likewise, Microsoft currently employs more than 700 of our experts at its development centre in Belgrade and has a further growth tendency.