Minister for Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Šarčević said that the purpose of the Strategy is to boost the economic competitiveness of a state or a region and contribute to economic growth and social progress by linking the research and innovation potentials and resources with a limited number of priority economic areas.
Addressing the participants the Minister for Education said that smart specialisation was a modern approach to knowledge-based economic development.
Šarčević explained that the Strategy for Research and Innovation for Smart Specialisation establishes development priorities based on research, innovation, and economic potentials of a society but also on a continuous public-private dialogue.
He also mentioned that the process of development of the Smart Specialisation Strategy in Serbia was initiated in early 2017.
The process is coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development but it also involves other relevant institutions, such as the Ministry of Economy, the Public Policy Secretariat, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, etc.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Viktor Nedović stressed that a lot has been done lately within the process.
He said that as representatives of Government institutions they saw their pivotal role in the organisation of and listening to those that the process concerned most. He recognised this as the essence of smart specialisation, and said that the Strategy was the first one to ascertain key priority investment areas in such a way.
As he explained it, the goal is to make our society and economy competitive on the regional, European, and global level.
The participants were addressed by Director of the Science Technology Park Belgrade Gordana Danilović Grković and Nikola Radovanović from the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission as well.
More detailed information about the Strategy for Smart Specialisation can be found at: https://pametnaspecijalizacija.mpn.gov.rs/