“Innovations in Practice” is the first workshop in the “Valorization of EU Knowledge” series organized by the EU Info Point Niš in partnership with the Science and Technology Park Niš.
Through concrete examples, not only did the lecturers bring the attention of the participants to all the difficulties and obstacles when starting one’s own business, but they also pointed out how to realize their innovative idea in practice, how to find resources for financing, and revealed what is needed for the success of a startup.
The goal of this series of workshops is to enable the process of learning and dialogue in all sectors, especially among the youth and young entrepreneurs, by nurturing a strong knowledge valorization culture, knowledge useful for the market, entrepreneurship, and innovations.
The experience and advice for the attendees was shared by: Dr Ivan Rakonjac, the director of the Innovation Fund; Dane Atanasković, consultant; and Stefanija Lukić, entrepreneur of “Just smart”.
During the past week, we hosted the representatives of TechPark Varaždin and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Banja Luka Region in STP Niš
Through a discussion during the Startup Breakfast, we attempted to bring closer how the development of the startup and innovative ecosystem looks in the neighboring Croatia, what services they provide to their members, and what interesting things they are working on within Makerspace Varaždin.
TechPark Varaždin is a dynamic community of entrepreneurs, innovators, mentors, and creative people, and by bringing together experience and top infrastructure, it offers its members support in developng business, and thus, contributes to the social and economic growth of the region of Varaždin and the Republic of Croatia as a whole. Within the technology park, there is also the Makerspace – a common coworking space for quickly prototyping and producing physical products.
At the Startup Breakfast, we had the opportunity to hear about examples of good practice from Karlo Kukec, the director of TechPark Varaždin, and Ivan Todorović, the director of Makerspace Varaždin. We talked about the very creation of the TechPark Varaždin community, building the Makerspace, various current programs, as well as the model for the TechPark’s self-sustainability.
Forty-five new teams, selected at the second public call of the Raising Starts pre-seed program, will start with their first workshops within the first phase of the second Raising Starts cycle on 28th February!
Startups fought for their spot in the program in a fierce competition among 115 registered teams, and before them, there is a month of exciting, intensive work and knowledge sharing within lectures and workshops which will give them the necessary direction and focus for further, rapid innovation development. Startups will work with experts with years of experience, local and international mentors with significant references in the field of building up businesses and startup development.
We congratulate all teams!
At the end of Phase 1, the teams that fulfill the criteria given beforehand will present their ideas on the Demo Day to the professional jury, and those who show the greatest potential for commercializing their idea and conquering the global market, will be granted the ability to participate in Phase 2 where, alongside additional training, they will get their mentors (one-on-one sessions with the business and the technology mentor), as well as financial support (up to 15.000 CHF).
Raising Starts is the first program in Serbia that provides both professional and financial support for the rapid development of innovations at the same time to startups in the earliest development phases.
The program was created through the “Technopark Serbia 2 – encouraging exports through the development of technology parks” project, through which the Government of Switzerland supports further development of innovations and technological entrepreneurship, and is being conducted by the Science Technology Park Belgrade in partnership with the Science and Technology Park Niš and the Science Technology Park Čačak.
The Science and Technology Park Niš (STP Niš) and the Niš Cluster of Advanced Technologies (NiCat cluster) signed the agreement for mutual cooperation today with the goal of improving cooperation and joint work on developing the innovation ecosystem.
STP Niš was founded in 2020 for the purpose of providing infrastructural support and professional services to subjects of innovation work (companies, scientific research and innovation organizations), attracting innovative (domestic and foreign) technology development companies, and creating conditions for founding a larger number of startup and spin-off companies and their development. Today, over 40 innovative companies are intensively developing their projects in this dynamic environment.
For 10 years since its founding, the NiCat cluster has been working on increasing the value and scope of cluster members’ traffic on the domestic and foreign market, strengthening capacities of companies for technological development and innovations, and the development of new technology products and promoting the city of Niš as a good location for business in the field of advanced technologies.
Being what they are, both of these organizations who gathered over 100 companies through mutual cooperation and in the interest of strengthening cooperation among their members can achieve the best results in defined fields, such as joint work on the branding of Niš and lobbying for the protection of the tech scene in Niš, mutual promotions, joint participation in development projects, education with a focus on technological entrepreneurship, activities related to the establishment of cooperation among member companies, etc.
During the past few years, the innovation ecosystem has advanced quite a lot – significan startup projects were mapped, conditions for the development of technological entrepreneurship have been somewhat lightened, and different types of financing are available for domestic innovators depending on the development phase. The shortcomings and challenges that need to be worked on have been recognized, and what is necessary is the continuous strengthening of startup ideas and capacities, as well as research activities by mature companies.
Recipients of “Sveti Car Konstantin i Carica Jelena”, the city’s official accolade for the most successful companies doing business in our city, received the accolades today at the City Hall.
Some of the STP Niš members are some of the recipients of this accolade awarded by the City of Niš. The startup company Car Sync is the recipient of the “Sveti Car Konstantin i Carica Jelena” award in the category “novice in business” for 2020, whereas the Johnson Electric company, a virtual member of STP Niš, received the award in the “largest exporter” category.
The awards were handed to them by the Mayor of Niš Dragana Sotirovski and the Director of the Local Economic Development Office Dušan Radivojević, who were both members of the Board deciding on the awards.
