This week has passed as a week for environmental protection – how to use waste as a resource through the recycling process, how to solve the problem of wastewater, and how to develop innovations in this field.
The second session of the Club of cities and municipalities with the favorable business environment, organized by NALED and the City of Niš, was held in the Science and Technology Park Niš, where representatives of municipalities and cities discussed crossing over from a linear to a circular economy, all with the goal of increasing awareness about environmental protection.
The focus of the session was on exchanging opinions on what kind of support cities and municipalities need in order to be successful in this process.
While touring STP Niš, members of the BFC club and NALED had the opportunity to get acquainted with the capacities of the Science and Technology Park Niš and the potential of our member companies.
On 2nd August 2021, the office of the Serbian Business Registers Agency in Niš was opened within the Science and Technology Park Niš, on the gallery floor near the main entrance.
STP Niš and SBRA signed the Agreement on Cooperation which, going forward, will enable members of STP Niš, as well as entrepreneurs and businesspeople of the City of Niš and the South and East Serbia region, complete all necessary steps regarding the registration of companies in one place, with the support of the Agency.
This Agreement includes expert and advisory support by SBRA employees to all interested businesspeople in the field of technological entrepreneurship and the access to databases SBRA has at its disposal, which are an excellent base for scientific research.
We hosted the delegation of South Sinai and the Embassy of Egypt in the Science and Technology Park Niš, as well as the Mayor of Niš Dragana Sotirovski with her associates.
During the tour of the park, we presented our member companies and their results so far, as well as the manner STP Niš operates in and the results achieved in the past year.
We talked with guests about plans for further development of projects and inspired them to consider opening a mini science-technology park in Sharm el-Sheikh within their university.
During the conversation, we touched upon the topic of cooperation between the two cities, regarding student exchange between the two universities, who would receive education at one of the technical faculties with joint financial support.
We see this meeting as a good opportunity to encourage and inspire young generations to go on the path of innovations and to create fertile ground for developing a successful innovation system together. We look forward to further cooperation and using all the potential it brings.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Ana Brnabić visited the Science and Technology Park Niš with her team, joined by the assistant to the Minister of Education, Science, and Technology, Dr Saša Lazović. At that time, a meeting was held with the director and team of STP Niš, the Mayor of the City of Niš Dragana Sotirovski, and the University of Niš rector as well. There was talk about the first year of STP Niš operations, results achieved, and further plans.
The Prime Minister also visited STP Niš member companies, who demonstrated their projects and excitedly presented their goals. More than 40 STP Niš projects held during the previous year are a distinguishing example of innovative companies that scale globally.
“I see science-technology parks as a brain that should lead us to a new and better future, to position us as a country that Serbia is – not a country of cheap labor force, but a country of talented highly educated professionals, capable of making new things and solving problems in innovative ways. Niš has a phenomenal University, excellent people, and it was this kind of investment that was needed in order to keep all that talent in Serbia and have it grow further” – the Prime Minister used these words to describe STP Niš.
Together with local partners and park members, STP Niš marked the full year since the end of construction works and the beginning of the realization of plans and goals. Within a year, STP Niš has become home to 35 member companies who work on developing their own innovative products within the STP Niš community. At the birthday celebration, we recapitulated the achieved results, plans, and challenges STP Niš faced during the previous year. The “RR Institutes – EI – Roots of Advanced Technologies” exhibit of the Museum of Industrial and Technological Heritage of Niš created with the help of the Promo IbiNT Association, the National Museum, and the Historical Archive, was officially opened as well.
Through two panel discussions, we observed the role and significance of STP Niš from the perspective of the regional economy, multinational companies, public institutions, academy and student organizations, as well as the STP Niš member companies’ business.
We look forward to the further work and progress of the park, which will have a big role in positioning and rebranding Niš and the whole of the South and East Serbia Region as an important factor of the innovation ecosystem of the Republic of Serbia and the region..