30 October 2024

The delegation of the Secretariat of the Supervisory Board of Hi-Tech Park headed by Deputy Director Kirill Zalessky visited Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, where the international conference “Artificial Intelligence for Life: Biotechnological Forum” was held.

The 3rd International Conference AI_4_LIFE: Biotech Future Forum is organized by the Government of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, Office for Information Technologies and е-Government, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with the support of the BIO4 Campus.

The HTP delegation visited the Science and Technology Park Belgrade, where talks were held with the director Gordana Danilović Grković. During the meeting the sides discussed the processes of creating a startup ecosystem in Serbia and conditions for supporting innovative entrepreneurship in the country, and interest in further study of experience and best practices was expressed.

The Belgrade Science and Technology Park was launched in 2015 and was the first institution of that kind in the country, established with the aim of accelerating the development of innovative tech-companies. The Park was established as a partnership between the Government of Serbia, the Municipality of Belgrade and the University of Belgrade, with the support of the Government of Switzerland. The Park's mission is to support youth, startups and small technology companies to enter the broader market through incubation programs, acceleration, mentoring, networking and other activities.

Prospects for practical cooperation were also discussed at the meeting with Assistant Director of the Office for Information Technologies and е-Government, Sector for the State Data Center in Kragujevac Boban Mihailović and the management of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Development of Serbia.

Serb interest in establishing contacts with Belarus on the development of the IT sector was confirmed during the brief meetings of Kirill Zalessky with Ana Brnabić, Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, who is in charge of digitalization in the country, and Jelena Begović, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of Serbia.

In the last five years, the ICT sector in Serbia has shown serious positive dynamics. By the end of 2023, it has grown by13.5%, and the export of ICT services has increased by more than 20%. More than 3,700 specialized companies operate in the ICT sector of the country, employing about 109,500 specialists. Four science and technology parks have been established in the country, the ecosystem and new conditions for IT business are being formed. One of the key areas of development is artificial intelligence.