The EU funded support to Science, R&D and Innovation in Serbia
Facts and figures
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EU Funded Support to Serbian Private Sector Development
The aim of the EU-funded support to the Serbian MSMEs and private sector development in general is to increase the competitiveness of the national economy and prepare it for the regional and the EU market. This should result in job creation and sustainable economic growth as well as the standard of the citizens. The EU funded support in this area amounts to more than EUR 250 million so far.
EU Funded Support to Science, Research and Innovation
The current support focus is on innovation, growth acceleration and support to relevance and excellence of scientific research, including commercialisation of research. This is mainly due to the fact that the fastest way of increasing competitiveness of any company is to invest in innovation and improve its position on the market. That will eventually positively affect the competitiveness at the national level. In short, technological innovation is considered as a major force in economic growth.
This is why the EU invested so far EUR 90 million from the IPA funds for support to:
- innovation (EUR 47 million through the Innovation Fund),
- science, research and development (EUR 31.5 million through the Science Fund and for the reform of the R&D institutes) and
- acceleration (EUR 10 million through the Innovation Fund).
The additional EUR 1.5 million is utilised for capacity building of the Science and Technology Park Belgrade.
The above mentioned is performed in the following way.
Support to the Innovation Fund
The Serbian Innovation Fund is supported since 2012 to develop new financial instruments (grant programmes) for innovative companies. These were the first ever financial instruments developed in Serbia and they supported start-ups as well. The supported grant programmes are ongoing in cycles, whether financed by the Government or the EU IPA funds. The EU also provided capacity building of the Fund. So far, the EU provided EUR 47 million for development of these programmes.
The instruments included Mini and Matching grants for the new products and services developed through research commercialisation, collaborative R&D Grant Scheme for cooperation between the business sector and R&D institutes and technology transfer grants and vouchers for innovative companies.
While the Mini Grants Programme (up to EUR 80,000) supports early-stage, private, micro and small companies developing technical innovations with clear market needs, the Matching Grants Programme (up to EUR 300,000) assists existing SMEs to develop their research activities, establish collaboration with strategic partners, attract investors and commercialize their innovations.
The Collaborative R&D Grants Programme (up to EUR 300,000) is specifically designed to stimulate cooperation between academia and the private sector aiming to commercialize R&D and promote technology transfer. The idea behind this action is to foster pre-competitive industry-driven research.
The Innovation Vouchers Programme (designed by the EU funded technical assistance and financed by the Government) are an additional help for SMEs that require support of public R&D organisations in order to introduce new products and services to the market.
With the recently started SME growth acceleration system, additional EUR 10 million of EU funds is available to the Innovation Fund for a new mechanism to support technological development and innovation – Katapult Accelerator. It supports start-ups in the early stages of product development and market positioning and companies with proven market traction aiming to accelerate their growth and raise additional financial resources. A three-month intensive training programme provides also At-Entry Grant from EUR 20,000 to EUR 50,000 and a Co-Investment Grant equal to a qualifying private investment of up to EUR 300,000 per start-up.
Support to the Science Fund
The Serbian Science Fund is a public organization that supports scientific and research activities in the Republic of Serbia. It was established in March 2019, with the aim to provide funds and support the conditions for the continuous development of world-class scientific and research activities in Serbia, necessary for the advancement of a knowledge-based society.
The EU is also the first donor providing support to the Science Fund. The support is provided with EUR 31.5 million through Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship project (SAIGE) (implemented by the World Bank). Project focuses on capacity building of the Fund, provide grants for the most successful researchers and contribute to the reform of the selected public sector R&D institutes (15 to 20 institutes). The focus of this intervention is to support the excellence and relevance of the science and research for the national economy.
– Improvement of the Science and Technology Park’s (STP) Belgrade
The technical assistance to the amount of EUR 1.5 million is provided to the STP Belgrade to upgrade the set of standardized business support services and to create tailor made services, with the purpose of supporting companies in each phase of their development – from identification of business idea and start-up to growth and internationalisation. The aim was also to modernise the organisation of research and innovation and to stimulate cooperation between industry and academia as well as to increase the level of investment in research.
Conclusion
Investment in science, innovation and R&D is crucial for the future development of the SMEs, specifically for a knowledge-based economy. The EU provided EUR 90 million for a direct support to the innovation, R&D and start-up ecosystem in Serbia. Understanding that funding of innovation should be considered as an investment in the future of the country and not as a cost has set in motion reforms that will significantly increase the competitiveness of Serbian economy.
The EU will continue to support reforms in this important area aiming to make Serbia more competitive at the European and global level.
Future opportunities in this area
The Innovation Fund Programmes
- The Mini, Matching and Collaborative Grant Scheme Programmes
The ongoing programme for the grants to innovative companies and start-ups with total value of EUR 26 million (including EUR 16 million from EU the donation and EUR 10 million from the budget of the Republic of Serbia) has already closed on 15 September 2023 the first public call worth EUR 10,3 million. Through these programme the grants range from up to EUR 120,000 to up to 500,000 per project, depending on the scheme.
The second public call and a new opportunity for grants of EUR 10.3 million is planned for December 2023.
More can be found at: https://www.inovacionifond.rs/lat/
- The KATAPULT accelerator
Financing for Katapult accelerator with total value of EUR 17.7 million (including EUR 10 million from the EU donation and EUR 7.7 million provided by the Republic of Serbia), is part of the Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship Project (SAIGE), which is dedicated to strengthening innovative entrepreneurship and scientific research.
Currently, the third public call for participation in the Katapult acceleration program is OPEN until October 16, 2023. The additional calls for start-ups will be available in the middle of 2024 and in 2025.
More can be found at: https://www.inovacionifond.rs/en/news/apply-to-join-katapult-24-now
The Science Fund Programmes
The programmes of the Science Fund provide financial resources for the realization of scientific research projects through four new calls in 2023: the public calls for the PROMIS and Proof of Concept are currently open, while the calls for the DIASPORA and IDEAS will be opened in the coming months.
The overall budget for the PRIZMA and PROMIS programmes is EUR 29 million (including EUR 16.5 million from the EU donation and EUR 12.5 million provided by the Republic of Serbia). For the PRIZMA call, the second stage of evaluation is currently ongoing.
More can be found at: https://fondzanauku.gov.rs/programi-test/
- HORIZON EUROPE
Serbia was very successful in the EU Horizon 2020 programme, receiving EUR 135 million for 414 grants and with participation of 596 organisation from Serbia.
Serbia joined the new EU programme for science and research – HORIZON Europe and already has very good results. Horizon Europe is the EU’s research and innovation framework programme running from 2021-2027. It supports breakthrough innovations and helps to create new services and markets, aiming to boost growth, trade and investment and to create a significant social and environmental impact.
Horizon Europe has three pillars:
- the Excellent Science pillar aims to increase the EU’s global scientific competitiveness,
- the Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness supports research relating to societal challenges and reinforces technological and industrial capacities through clusters, and
- the Innovative Europe aims to make Europe a frontrunner in market-creating innovation via the European Innovation Council.
Horizon Europe stimulates SME participation across the whole programme.
The forthcoming calls for proposals are available at the Funding and Tenders Portal at:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home.
For more information: https://ec.europa.eu/info/horizon-europe_en