How can the country accelerate innovation and build a knowledge-based economy for both traditional and emerging tech companies to the extent that it can create a sustainable national competitive advantage? What ten domains hold the most potential for such growth?
These issues, and many other ones, were examined during CENTAR’s nearly year-long research into innovative domains that could change Serbia. In early 2021, we translated the original research idea into a methodology that aimed at helping us identify various innovative domains in Serbia and assess how robust they were. We defined ‘domains’ as sectors in which science, economy, and technology come together to create spaces where chain reactions ignite innovation in multiple interconnected areas. We investigated the strength of these domains through six selected dimensions: firstly, through the dimensions of economics, science, and innovation, and then through their potentials for cross-hybridisation of products and processes, networking between innovative actors, and spill-overs into the economy and society. The research, undertaken as part of the Serbia Innovates project, analysed multidimensional links between innovation and the use of complex technologies by the identified domains to achieve global competitive advantages. We are now ready to present the selected ten that meet the set criteria to a greater or lesser extent.
10 MOST INNOVATIVE DOMAINS IN SERBIA
HOW WE IDENTIFIED THEM?
Serbia Innovates: research topics
The aim of this project is to promote sustainable innovative growth and encourage leaders in traditional companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, academia, and research institutions to collaborate more closely and innovate together to achieve competitive advantages.
CENTAR’s research focused on industries that use sophisticated technologies and face constant pressures to rapidly adjust their product offerings and business processes. At the same time, the project examined emerging industries whose disruptive products and processes could create spill-over effects and spread innovations to other parts of the economy and society as a whole. This research paid particular attention to innovation based on advanced technologies that are the backbone of productivity improvements and economic growth.
On the horizon: next steps
Government policy is the key factor in creating the setting in which businesses develop and improve their competitiveness. As such, we will continue to focus on innovation and technology-friendly policies and their implementation in an environment fraught with the challenges of globalisation.
In that context, we will be looking into how the research, business, and start-up communities can improve the way they work together to create innovative technologies that bring added value to society. We will develop metrics to track the results of innovation management, including the pace at which scientific research can be absorbed by industry and how education policies affect the development of human capital. Last, but not least, CENTAR and its partners will continue to design financial and fiscal policies aimed at fostering innovation.
RESEARCH TEAM
Partners
This research was conducted within the project “Serbia innovates”, in which the lead partner is the Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovation ICT Hub. Besides the Public Policy Research Centre (CENTAR), the project also includes WM Equity Partners (WMEP). In the research effort, CENTAR has teamed up with the Centre for Advanced Economic Studies (CEVES), which analysed the economic position of Serbia at the regional and global levels.
