Serbia to Invest €76.8 Million in AI Biotech Master’s Programmes
06/02/2024
Serbia plans to spend 76.8 million euros on master’s degree programmes focused on the application of artificial intelligence in BIO4 disciplines - biomedicine, bioinformatics, biotechnology and biodiversity.
The Serbian government’s action plan for a startup ecosystem development strategy for 2024, published in the Official Gazette on February 1, allocates 76.8 million euros for new interdisciplinary master’s degree programmes to apply artificial intelligence in BIO4 disciplines.
The government is seeking to encourage the growth of a startup ecosystem in the country – a system of organisations, service providers and entrepreneurs that nurture startup companies.
The action plan also allocates 8.5 million euros to introduce entrepreneurship and related skills and competencies into existing educational curricula.
BIO4 disciplines include biomedicine, bioinformatics, biotechnology, and biodiversity. Serbia now is the process of building a BIO4 Campus intended to attract scientific expertise and private partners from some of the world’s biggest pharma, genetics and healthcare companies.
Serbia started the construction of the 413-million-euro campus at the end of December with the goal of making it operational within three years.
The country’s startup ecosystem development strategy includes four specific aims – raising startup entrepreneurial capacity through educational programmes, improving infrastructure and programme support for startups, creating mechanisms for financing startups and the right conditions for startup business, and promoting startup culture and global recognition of Serbia’s startup ecosystem.
Srdjan Vukmirovic, a professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Novi Sad, said the strategy is excellent.
“Progress is visible, but of course, it could be faster. There are expectations for the further improvement of the [startup] environment and for state support, primarily in the development of the ecosystem,” Vukmirovic said.
The action plan envisages that amendments to the Law on Innovation Activity and the Law on Alternative Investment Funds will be adopted this year in order to boost startup development.
It says that alternative investment funds should enable easier financing, primarily for young companies. The law governing this area has made it possible for such funds to invest in property as well as in securities and deposits, unlike classic investment funds.
Vukmirovic said that more diverse investment options can mean a lot for startups in Serbia, but that the sphere is still dominated by the State Innovation Fund.
“I think the state should allow foreign funds to come in more,” he said.
Asked how the conditions for startup businesses could be improved, he responded: “What is missing the most are experienced business developers, and what could be better is to finance more visits to trade fairs as well as other types of networking.”
According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023, startups in the cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad created products or company value estimated at 1.1 billion dollars from July 2020 to the end of 2022, 75 per cent more than in the previous period.
The data in the report suggests that the Serbian startup scene has grown faster than startup ecosystems in other countries, but is still much smaller.
