USD 700,000 invested in business incubator

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic opened on Tuesday the Information Communication Technologies (ICT) Hub, an investment worth USD 700,000, in Zvezdara Science and Technology Park.

ICT Hub is the largest start-up investment and the first Public Private Partnership project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Serbia, said Ljajic at the opening ceremony.

The project is a co-investment by USAID and a consortium led by two Serbian companies - Orion Telekom and DNA Advertising, he added.

Serbia needs the development of technological knowledge, which could help the development of its economy, said Ljajic, noting that the business incubator for information communication technologies was created to foster technological entrepreneurship among young people.

There are currently 21 business incubators in Serbia, five of which are specialized, he added.

Ljajic underlined that the ICT sector in Serbia has made significant progress over the past years and that according to the ICT Development Index, Serbia ranks 40th in the world with revenues of EUR 230 million reported last year.

As for the business development in the ICT sector, Serbia is placed 56th, with some 2,000 companies employing around 16,000 people, he added.

In Serbia today, 63.2 percent of families own a computer, 52.8 percent have access to the Internet, and 55.1 percent of them have broadband internet access, which is 11 percent higher than in 2013, Ljajic specified

United States Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby said that he is impressed with the spacious and airy premises of the Science and Technology Park in Zvezdara, but noted that they are not sufficiently used despite the USAID...