Meeting at the Embassy of Norway and a visit of the SMART4ALL project delegation to STP Novi Sad

On July 5, 2022, a meeting was held at the Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade in which the directors and representatives of all four Science and Technology Parks in Serbia (Belgrade, Niš, Čačak and Novi Sad) participated.

The goal of the meeting was to familiarize the participants with the Nordic project that the Embassy of Norway, in cooperation with other Nordic embassies in Serbia, is planning for the fall of 2022. This project is a continuation of last year’s cooperation between the Nordic embassies on the project “Strengthening Circular Economy in Serbia – Nordic Experiences”. Both last year’s and this year’s projects were financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, based on an application by the Norwegian Embassy (by the Finnish Embassy last year).

The Nordic region is recognized as a global leader in “green solutions”. In cooperation with Nordic experts and local partners in Serbia, the intention is to help strengthen the sector of renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, bio-fuel/green heating, air quality, etc., while promoting Nordic solutions to existing challenges.

It is expected that the support and knowledge of science and technology parks will be of great importance for the successful implementation of the project.

The meeting was attended by director Nebojša Drakulić and associate for support to technological development companies and startups, Vladimir Todorović, PhD, in front of the Science and Technology Park Novi Sad, and Ambassador Jorn Eugene Gjelstad, second secretary Stefan Sandstad attended the meeting on behalf of the Norwegian Embassy.

On July 6, 2022, as part of the organization of the SMART4ALL Horizon 2020 project conference, representatives of the Enterprise Europe Network of Serbia and the project management visited the Science and Technology Park Novi Sad and on that occasion discussed opportunities for mutual cooperation and strengthening the ties between the project consortium and STP NS. Bearing in mind that the project is based on the promotion of the digital transformation of the economy and the possibilities of financing the international transfer of technology, the topic is particularly interesting for the future development of the scientific-technological park and its members. The key questions discussed with the guests were: Why and how to understand, use, connect, finance and profit from digitization and technology transfer?

The European perspective in digital transformation, technology transfer, internationalization and their financial support through the SMART4ALL project, business contact and consulting through Enterprise Europe Network Serbia, as well as support for innovative activities represents a common point of action for NTP and the entire consortium, whereby the idea for scientific-technological park to get actively involved in the work of the incubator network created within the project is accepted, as well as the idea of it becoming a full member of the consortium that will contribute to the community in the following calls.

The meeting was attended by director Nebojša Drakulić and associate for support of technological development companies and startups Vladimir Todorović, PhD, from the side of Enterprise Europe Network Serbia, Vesna Rašković Depalov, PhD, project advisor, and project manager Marija Stanču Mirosavljev. Christos Antonopoulos, PhD, and professor Nikolaos Voros were present as representatives of the SMART4ALL project, representing the ESDA lab from Greece and the Peloponnese University.