The Smart Specialization Strategy is one of the key documents adopted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia in order to develop a knowledge-based society. The Strategy is an important instrument for improving the innovation and research ecosystem and directing future investment in industrial areas identified as priority areas in this process.
Smart Specialization Program in Research and Innovation
Industry
A new Industrial Policy Strategy from 2021 to 2030 is currently underway to replace the latest strategy and policy document in the Republic of Serbia and which is extremely relevant to 4S.
As part of the drafting of the new strategy, a public-private dialogue has been organized and initiated by the Government, with the aim of creating conditions for improvement of industrial competitiveness, sustainable growth and economic development, as well as new employment.
Through this public-private dialogue which was carried out in parallel with the 4S, the working groups collaborated and exchanged findings to make the Strategies work better in the future strategic framework of the Republic of Serbia. Also, the findings of the entrepreneurial discovery process have also been used in the development of Industrial Policy Strategy, which is in its nature, horizontal, while the 4S follows the principle of specialization and focuses on areas where competitive advantages are identified.
On November 7, 2022, the ICT workshop was held where the PUZZLE project was presented. The workshop was attended by 30 representatives of the academy, industry, civil sector, public administration, clusters, and associations who were divided into 4 working groups. The workshop was organized by Vojvodina ICT Cluster – VOICT at Faculty of Technical Sciences.
Some of the topics that have been mapped as weaknesses are cyber and data security, which needs to be worked on strategically in the coming period.
The 4S workshop at Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, Serbia
More info about 4S
The National Smart Specialization Strategy was developed through a detailed analytical and consultative process over the last three years, guided by the methodology of best practices of the EU member states, and the development process was overseen by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.
The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has been Serbia’s fastest-growing industry over the past 10 years. A comparative assessment of employment in computer programming, consulting, and related activities shows that, in the previous years, Serbia recorded the highest employment growth in this sector compared to selected countries of the Danube region.
ICT is mapped as one of the three Vertical priority areas. A unique feature of ICT is its horizontal nature and applicability to almost all other sectors. Accordingly, particular attention in workshops and working groups was dedicated to the horizontal aspect of ICT and to linking key stakeholders in this field with other sectors. Information and communication technologies are key to the development of today’s digital economy: these include cloud computing, big data, mobile applications, IoT, and artificial intelligence. The greatest horizontal potential of the Serbian ICT sector lies in the following areas and technologies: Big data and business analytics, Cloud computing, Internet of things, Software development and Embedded systems.
